Chrysanthemum
by peterpauper
Summary: Everything we've gone through and everything we've accomplished can never be explained in words. Kyoya X OC.
1. Preface

The sun rose and spilled through the curtains of Yuuki Cunxin's bedroom.

She grimaced and pulled her blanket up higher a reaction to the crisp morning. It wasn't that she didn't like mornings – she loved them, but rather that she was much too comfortable and warm to get up and venture out into the beginnings of winter.

Outside she heard a sharp crack. Sitting up, the girl craned her neck to see out her window. Her father was standing in ring with a lunge-line in one hand and a long pole to which was attached a short strip of leather in the other.

A big thoroughbred was trotting in circles around him, its ears pricked in a causal, cocky manner.

The whip wasn't there to hurt the horse, but as an aid to train horses instead of breaking them.

Yuuki ran a hand through her hair and slid her feet onto the cold floor. Her room was so big that it never kept any warm air in it and she had left her electric blanket off and fireplace out.

Her bed, although a queen, was pushed against the far wall; beneath a window overlooked the paddocks of the Cunxin estate. A few meters to the foot of the bed was a bookcase, filled with classics and matching sets. The fireplace was in the centre of the wall opposite the door, complimented by a red couch that matched the mahogany of her wardrobe. It was homey, stylish and comfortable – even if it was cold.

Yuuki quickly changed and pulled on her riding boots before skipping down the marble stairs of the family mansion and disappearing out the back door.

Her father looked up as the wood closed with a thud and his daughter crunched her way across the gravel towards the stable.

"Morning Yuuki" he called in a monotone manner, his attention already back on the horse

"Morning dad" she yelled over her shoulder before sliding into the stable.

The lighting was crisp, first light, clear light. Yuuki loved it. She loved the morning once she was out of bed.

The stable was made up of two rows of stalls, a tack room and a loft above where the feed was kept.

The very end stall contained her pride and joy.

Zero was a very large warm blood gelding. A perfect jumper, a little flighty, a bit of a handful but all around an amazing horse.

The bay nickered a warm hello, his attention fully on his owner.

"Hey handsome" Yuuki whispered softly, putting a hand on his nose

The horse pulled away suddenly, his ears still pricked forward. Her hand was cold.

"Sorry boy" The girl blew the offending limbs and then ran them over his shoulder; feeling the animals warmth. She continued to talk to her horse as she groomed him, fed him and cleaned his stall.

The pair were champions together. Yuuki had been given him when she was ten, when she was thirteen they were national champions, at fifteen they were Asia champions and at sixteen they had been selected for the Beijing Olympic squad – taking out gold for the three day event.

The girl had been riding since she could walk and her horse had been bred from a line of gold winning stallions and mares.

Both had high-classed blood lines.

The Cunxin family owned a line of agricultural businesses and controlled the importation of produce overseas.

Even so, Yuuki preferred to tend her own horse. Riding was all she was good at. The only thing she could excel in. She had an older brother, so the business would go to him; she had never been good enough at math and management to be able to take over. Her academics were very average, her social skills very poor due to a quiet nature and her family ability almost non-existent. She lived with two men she was related to but did not love.

The only male she loved was Zero. And, as lame as that felt at times, she was never lonely. He could

never lie to her and would always keep a secret.

"Ready to go?" Yuuki pulled the girth tight around Zero. His ears flicked back for a second before he turned his head to look at his master.

It was ironic, her head just came above his shoulder and yet she ruled his every move. The horse used his nose as a weapon and shoved Yuuki as she put her foot in the stirrup, causing her to stumble.

The girl turned her annoyed gaze at him, the horse's crooked blaze making him look entirely innocent. "Whatever"

She sighed and lifted herself into the saddle and making her way into the lower paddock where her trainer would now be waiting.

Five days a week she trained two hours before school, two after. On weekends she competed or did more extensive sessions. She didn't have a social live to maintain and thus not being out wasn't much of an issue.

When Yuuki re-entered the house she found her brother and father sitting at the dining room table, waiting for her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, her voice naturally quiet

"Yes Yuuki, everything's fine. Sit down" her brother said

The girl obeyed an expression of confusion on her face

"We think it's time you had a change" her father pushed an envelope across the table at her

_Congratulations! _ It said _You have been accepted into Ouran High School!_

_We are well aware of your abilities on the equestrian circuit and are offering you a place at the Ouran Academy on a sporting scholarship. We trust you will find our facilities to your liking, they are as well equipped as any Olympian would expect._

Yuuki didn't read on "What? I didn't..."

"We know you didn't apply, we did it for you" Mako, her brother finished

"Your brother and I were tired of your lacking in academics, Ouran offers excellent education and a very good riding program"

"I have a program" the girl protested "Here, I have a program"

Mako shook his head "Your homeschooled, you have no social live, your best friend is a horse"

"And I'm happy"

"Well" her father said coldly "we're not. You mother would have never allowed you to slip so far"

The Japanese way of life ensured that high class women, especially those born into powerful families, were all rounders. Good at everything. Yuuki was defiantly not that.

She felt betrayed.

They were sending her away because she had failed them; they hadn't even told her that they were disappointed.

"I'll work harder" she began "I'll get friends..."

"Where Yuuki? Home school?"

"Are...are you trying to get rid of me?"

Mako sighed "No. Yuuki. Please, just go to Ouran. You can board there and come home on the weekend. Zero will come with you. You can still compete in riding, except now you will have friends invited to the crowd. People will know you more than an Olympic celebrity in still motion; you will be their Olympic celebrity"

"I don't want to be a celebrity"

"Then don't tell anyone who you are. I'm sure no one on the equestrian team will know who you are." He said sarcastically "Except that your trainer will be with you ever two days, and everyone knows his fame in the horse world." her father said with a smug grin

Yuuki didn't like him. Not one bit. Maybe once she had, but after her mother had died he had changed. So her Mako.

"Okay" she decided. She didn't have to be social; she didn't have to do well. She just had to attend. She didn't want to please those she didn't love. The opportunity to ride for a private school was a good offer anyway.

"It wasn't something you could agree to Yuuki. You were going whether you liked it or not. You start Monday"

The girl stared across the table at the two men, her insides frozen for a second. There was no love in this room. Just acceptance and even that was fading fast.

She pushed her chair back and stood "I'll go pack then"

It was Saturday. How long had they hidden the news from her?

Ouran was a three hour drive away, it would take a morning to get there.

The girl pulled out her suitcase. The L and V logo across it displayed her wealth. Not just her family wealth, but hers personally from her sporting achievements.

Achievements that her father and brother didn't recognise. Her father only knew his own equestrian leisure and her brother detested animals all together.

Yuuki packed what she could that day and completed it the next.

Zero had his own bag that sat in the horse float. It contained all the things that he needed to stay warm as well as the riding gear that was tailored to his every dimension. Even the bit was custom made to sit comfortably in his mouth.

Yuuki found herself relieved the day she and Zero left. She had liked her home, it was like living alone; but she really would be at Ouran. It would be the same, only without the family that haunted her in an almost blaming manner.

Her father and brother said brief goodbyes and disappeared back into the house. A servant drove her and the float towards the school and she plugged herself into an iPod.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Yuuki stepped out of the car, the crisp wind bringing winter closer. She trudged towards the horse float and opened the side door, suddenly being hit with the warmth of the cabin.

It was early Sunday afternoon; the courtyard they were in was silent. Yuuki had seen some of Ouran High School as they entered; it was very big and very grand indeed. She couldn't help but think that the clock-tower looked like Big Ben in London.

The man who had driven her up left towards a building on the west side of the courtyard and disappeared through the door. He was carrying her bags into the dorm room. It was normal protocol for any of the servants upon arrival with the horse – they would arrange accommodation and their masters would see to their equine friends before they saw to themselves.

Zero's ears flickered uncertainly, he was confused by the long ride and full of the energy he hadn't expended that day.

"Just us now mate" Yuuki unclipped the lead rope from the wall and pressed a button on the side of the wall. The back of the float folded downwards into a ramp and wedged itself into the cobbles of the yard.

The stable was just across from the dorm Yuuki had been assigned, very convenient and probably decided for her. It was a long, low building made of thick wood and red tiles. It looked very French, which was probably the point.

"Rich friends" the girl said as she guided her horse into the open "lots of money"

Zero didn't pay attention, money meant nothing to him.

The main school buildings could be seen beyond the dormitory, the stables and dorms were kept on the eastern corner according to the map – private and out of the way. Gardens and numerous well kept paddocks and yards surrounded the area, melting into sporting fields and then into more gardens.

"We have lots of money to hey?" Yuuki cooed, walking through the open stable doorway "daddy's got lots of money; pity daddy doesn't have lots of love hey? Just his son" her chatter was calming Zero down. Unfortunately it was doing nothing for the girl.

She was nervous about the school, it wasn't a situation she knew at all. She was shy and hoped that her inadequate social abilities would suffice until she picked up on more.

A short man appeared suddenly out of an office styled like the stable across the yard.

"Hello! I've been waiting for you!" his voice was very high pitched and Zero's ears flicked back in annoyance at the abuse "You must be Yuuki Cunxin. It's such an honour to have you here"

He extended a pudgy hand and grinned, Yuuki was surprised that she was taller than him.

She had always been short of stature, light of skin; but compared to the man she was a bean pole with a suntan.

"Thank you...um...?" he hadn't given a name

"Its Mr Hung, but call me uncle" Mr Hung clapped his hands and walked quickly along the line of stalls "Zero's is in the corner. It's the biggest and has its own tack room; we figured you would have an extensive range of tack and things for your champion"

Her champion? It made sense, but no one ever said it like that "Thank you. I was just wondering..." Yuuki's voice was soft as usual but had an uneasy edge to it "How many people here know who I am, and that I'm here?"

"Just the riding students" Mr Hung unlocked the stall and walked in "And the superintendent's son. But that goes without saying, he is a host after all."

"There are hosts here?" the notion shocked Yuuki, hosts had always been an adult thing in her mind

"Oh yes, bored students, too much time on their hands. It's a good system, everyone is happy. By the way" he said really quickly "I don't know if your father told you, but part of the requirement of you staying here is that you help teach one class a week. I told him you didn't have to, but he said that it would improve you – anything for gold at London right?"

Yuuki stared at him shocked for a moment before having her thought broken by a firm shove in the back. Zero was anxious to get into his stall, it smelt like sweet hay and he was hungry.

"What an amazing horse!" Me Hung continued on his rant "Such good lines, amazing sire, fantastically fit...well you would both have to be, even though your such a tiny thing...the strain on the body while riding is enormous...no one ever thinks that...but you have to be very fit, don't you?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. What's this about my teaching a class?" Yuuki clipped Zero's lead rope to a rung in the wall near the water trough.

"Oh don't worry it's just young students. Beginners really. They were all very excited to hear that you were coming. We didn't think that you could handle anything above that whist being in second year. Too much stress."

"Very" she paused "considerate of you"

"Anyway" Mr hung said "I'll leave you to settle in. No riders are expected today although someone is coming around to book horses for next Saturday. Your rooms are very nice indeed, they overlook the stable on one side and the school gardens on the other. I trust you will feel right at home"

He clapped once, Zero threw his head and then the man disappeared.

"Stay" Yuuki said frustrated and left the stall, leaving her horse tied to the wall. She returned a minute later with the servant, both carrying various bags. Her room was set up and all that needed to be done was set up Zero's.

His tack room was huge and kept all the equipment, feed, medical needs and special bits and bobs with ease. It even had a special hook to hold various types of helmet and crop. The latter of which Yuuki never used. She did however have a few helmets.

The servant bowed and left, handing her a room key.

Yuuki made it to the stable entrance just in time to see him leave.

She swore. How rude.

Pushing the anger aside, the girl pushed the door into the dorm open and followed the signs to her room.

'"Nine" she muttered outside the door and unlocked it.

The room was as big as her bedroom at home, and then some. It had a small kitchenette with a note from a maid saying she would be brought dinner daily from the chefs at the school. There was a comfortable dining room, furnished with designer table and chairs. The lounge was the same except it sported a plasma screen and leather couch.

Through a heavy wooden door was the bedroom. It was in the corner of the building and had a view over both sides of the school – just as promised. Next to the door into the room was another that lead into the spacious bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe that already sported her clothing.

Something yellow caught Yuuki's eye, she never wore yellow.

Pulling the offending garment out she discovered her school uniform and coughed in surprise. It was hideous. As if Belle from beauty and the beast and suddenly become modern and designed school uniforms.

That was the only issue she had with the school so far. Her books were neatly placed on a desk in her bedroom and a laptop was set-up close-by. It was tasteful, simple, neat. Exactly what she wanted. It was also quiet. Just like she was.

An hour later, Yuuki had put Zero into a paddock with some other horses and watched him play. She returned to her room and discovered a steaming dinner on the counter and another note saying that it had been specially made for her according to her favourite foods, thanks to google. Also there was a map of the high school and the room she would have her classes in and a timetable including her beginners class. Next to it was a small photograph of a girl in a red coat, riding a big dark horse over a jump on a cross country course – Zero and herself at internationals. A pen was attached.

_My daughter is a big fan_ read the P.S at the bottom of the dinner note _Would you please sign the photo, she was very excited to hear I was the maid for your room. Her name is Ruka. Thank you_

Yuuki wrote on the photo, a pleasant generic message, before sticking it to the fridge and disappearing into a nightly routine.

The next morning Yuuki walked into her homeroom and felt the eyes of all the students on her. Their voices halted for a moment before picking up momentum.

A boy and girl approached her and spoke at the same time, blushing at their unison.

"Hello, you must be Yuuki. We're your class captains. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask"

"Thank you" she bowed at them quickly before taking her leave, people made her nervous.

There was one available seat in the room, about halfway back and just off centre.

Yuuki took it and felt the eyes of students on her. Of course they knew who her father was, their business...that was alright. She just hoped they didn't delve into family history and thus know who she was.

"Good morning princess" suddenly there was a red rose near Yuuki's face; she got a small fright and turned to the sound of the voice.

A handsome blonde was speaking to her, leaning across the gap between their desks and holding aloft the flower.

"Welcome to Ouran" he continued in a smooth voice "I hope your heart is as beautiful as you are"

Yuuki took the rose, breaking eye contact. He was embarrassing her and she didn't know how to react.

"Thank you" was the only thing she could reply with, she was flattered but unsure. She wasn't attracted to the man's European charm – it was to open for her.

"Your more than welcome Princess..." he pressed for her name

"Yuuki"

"You're welcome Yuuki. I'm Tamaki" He put his thumb on her chin and slid his fingers along her jaw.

The girl's instant reaction was to pull away; she didn't understand why a stranger was touching her face so intimately.

Tamaki dropped his hand and brushed the hair from his face "Come to the third music room this afternoon, you can be introduced to some new friend there"

Yuuki didn't have that afternoon free, or any afternoon for that matter. She began to say so but a teacher walked into the room and began the lesson.

After class a bunch of girls swarmed the new kid. All gushing about Tamaki and his prince-type.

Yuuki didn't understand and said so, a silence issued.

Then all hell erupted as she was introduced to finer points of the Host Club.

Swiftly the girls became hushed, Yuuki was thankful, she was overwhelmed.

Behind the group stood Tamaki, everyone was turned to him as he said hello and told them all that the Host Club would be open this afternoon, as per usual, but that they should get in early to book for the weekend. To the blondes left was a dark haired man with glasses, writing on a clipboard.

He glanced up at her for a moment and then went back to his business and walked off with Tamaki.

Yuuki slipped away as the fan-girls stared after the men. Her day passed unnoticed and she was relieved to get to the stable afterschool. She changed quickly into cream jodhpurs and a long sleeved white shirt, topped with a black jacket to ward of the cold wind.

Zero was waiting for her at the fence, he had been ridden that morning, but not as much as usual and he stared at his owner intently as she brought a halter to him.

"Hey you" she tickled his nose "let's go riding hey? We have a few kids to teach. You'll get lots of attention"

Zero was the only being in the whole world that got spoken to like a baby by Yuuki; he was also spoken to the most by her.

The girl lead him into his stall and vanished into the tack room to find the grooming kit.

Footsteps outside Zero's stall, one of the voices was defiantly Mr Hung's. He was speaking about horses in the stable that belonged to the school and those that could be leased from their owners for a day.

"And this one?" a calculating voice queried, obviously indicating Zero

"This one" Mr Hung said "Is probably not on offer"

"What would it cost to get him?"

Yuuki stood at the door from the tack room and listened

"Allot more than your host budget Mr Ootori, I'm sorry"

"Why is this horse so important?"

"Well" Mr Hung sounded proud "This horse is an Olympian. Arrived yesterday with its owner. I'm sure that she would not allow him to be borrowed for a joyride on open day"

Zero was looking at the open tack room door, his ears pricked forwards. He nickered softly and Yuuki decided to appear before she was dragged out.

She pretended to have not heard the conversation. It wasn't important anyway, just someone who wanted to lease her horse. Lots of people wanted to lease her horse.

"Ahh! Yuuki!" Mr Hung cried

The girl turned to him as she closed the tack door. The man next to him was the same as that who had been with Tamaki earlier in the day.

"Meet Kyoya Ootori" he gestured at the man "He was very interested in leasing Zero for host club activities on Saturday. But the open day is on then and you'll be using him wont you?"

"Um" it was the first she had heard of an open day "I didn't know about open day"

The short man clapped and exclaimed "Oh! It's fantastic. People come from all around to see Ouran and what we do. The equestrian centre holds a small competition. Just cross country, the Host club is setting up along the course and wanted to ride in the fields next to it to give their guests an authentic horsey experience"

"Oh" the girl put a hand on Zero's face, sensing he was about to do something mischievous. Impatient beast "Right. I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of it"

"Would you lease your horse another day?" Kyoya said looking at his folder, pen poised. Obviously he thought that Zero could bring in much profit for the club, especially with Tamaki seated regally on his back.

Yuuki took the chance to explain why it was impossible to use her horse "Zero is essentially an egoist. He values himself much more than he should and he rates many things higher than he should." Like herself and jumping "All other riders have been thrown by him, If that wasn't the case I would allow you to use him under my supervision"

Her voice was quiet and she wouldn't meet the eye of either man, she felt scrutinised.

Kyoya's face seemed to register surprise for a second before he closed his folder and turned to Mr Hung "I'll take just those horses mentioned earlier, thanks for your time"

Yuuki watched the dark head leave and wondered what she had said to prompt such a monotone meeting.

"Your wondering about Kyoya?" Mr Hung said, watching the girl "He's the Shadow King of the host club. Very smart. Third son. He doesn't chase anything unless he thinks he will profit by it. Like your horse, he is an egoist" the man slapped the wood of the stall door and winked at Yuuki.

The girl turned back to her horse and thought about what he had said.

She hoped she hadn't offended the man, the Ootori family and hers were both powerful but in different fields. Yuuki didn't want an enemy.

At least she had a competition to work for, even if it was small.

It would help her get her mind off the awkward first few days of a new situation.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The week came and went without much to offer. It was exactly what Yuuki expected.

Riding, classes, riding sleep. It had taken two hours to calm down her class; one girl had seen her and fainted on site. Fortunately none of the non-riding students knew about her.

Tamaki spent every morning harassing her and every afternoon wondering where she had gone. Yuuki was the only girl who had no accepted an invite to the Host club.

Kyoya was indifferent. His father had told him about the daughter of the Cunxin enterprise. She was nothing special. Her brother however, would have been a prime target if he had attended the school. As far as the Ootori was concerned, Yuuki was just another daughter of a powerful business man; he didn't know about her riding – that topic wasn't touched on much in her family history.

The weekend of Open day arrived and Yuuki woke up early. She knew that she would need to keep Zero calm and energised, so instead of training in the morning she pulled on a pair of trainers and plugged herself into an iPod and set off around the school – it was her way of getting into the mindset of competitions.

Yuuki pounded the pavement in time with the playlist and watched around her. Some other borders went running in the morning too and she spotted one on her way round. The school was awake at the time, preparing. Trucks were coming in, laden with products for the day.

A group of boys stood at the entrance to the school, Yuuki could have sworn one was a girl though.

She didn't look at them and cut the drive short in order to avoid the public.

Running was her vice. An escape from everyday life.

As Yuuki rounded a corner she collided with something, hard.

Fortunately for the object, the impact from her wasn't much in the way of weight and they managed to remain, at least, almost half upright. Yuuki fell on her rear and heard the clinking of metal a moment after she landed.

The glasses were expensive looking and fortunately hadn't broken.

The girl pinched the edge of the earpiece with long fingers and lifted it to whoever she had run into.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking" she said, beginning to lift herself off the ground. Her hair was falling out of its pony-tail and into her face and she had to push it back with the hand that wasn't lifting her up.

Before her fingers could do their job, a hand wrapped itself around her wrist and lifted her to her feet "I wasn't watching either"

Yuuki looked up and saw the same boy from the stables a few days before, Kyoya. He had a clipboard under one arm and probably hadn't been looking.

"Are your glasses scratched? I can pay you back for them" she offered, not wanting to displease anyone even at her own expense

"No" he replied, his voice the same as it always had been "they're fine"

Kyoya seemed menacing, but there was something about his planning demeanour that said he wasn't scary at all.

"Maybe you should get some" he said, proving Yuuki's theory right with a ghost of a smile. His voice veiling any emotion.

The clock tower rang, indicating seven o'clock. The girl looked at it and then at the stables in the distance.

She bowed quickly at the man, awkwardly, in a manner that suggested she had never said many goodbyes, and ran off. She needed to be showered and dressed and fed, then do the same for Zero before nine.

In an hour she was ready. Dressed in her casual competition gear.

Tall, shined, black boots over crisp white jodhpurs that wouldn't be at the end of the day, a long sleeved, collared white shirt, soft cream tie and a navy blue riding jacket. Under her shirt she had on a singlet, it was freezing that day. Winter started officially in a week.

Zero still had his blanket on when Yuuki let herself into his stall. He happily accepted his breakfast and had a little tantrum when he wasn't allowed to drink as much water as he usually would.

"You'll get bloated and it will slow you, and you'll need the bathroom" Yuuki said once he had quieted down and she could groom him. She didn't plait his main or tail, she only did that for dressage. Zero looked to feminine when he was braided, it did nothing for him.

Yuuki used the navy saddle blanket with white trimming and the matching mufflers over his ears.

The last touch to the routine was to put booties on Zero, they protected the tops of his hoofs and the lower part of his legs on the cross country course, they also stopped it from hurting so much if he hit the bar.

"All done" Yuuki petted his neck and opened the stall, leading the animal behind her.

The other competitors, ranging from beginner to advanced had all gathered in the yard already and were chatting to each other casually.

As soon as the Olympic pair walked into the sunlight, all of this stopped. Three young girls dragged their parents over to meet Yuuki Cunxin.

"How are you finding being around 'normal' peers?" one asked curiously

Yuuki played with the reins in her hand "To be honest, no one outside of this club really knows who I am. Equestrian isn't really a sport to be a celebrity in, other than within the actual sport itself. I'm really just another face in the crowd. I don't think anyone even knows about Zero, he's the one who does all the work anyway"

She had said this speech a thousand times over – the young champion one, the one to prove to the public you were normal and not a superhuman.

Mr Hung parted the sea of horses and student and appeared in front of the girl "Our star is here! And dressed for the occasion!"

For the first time Yuuki realised that the other riders were dressed allot less showy that she was. She was the only one with tack to match her outfit. Suddenly she felt very exposed.

"Is there a warm-up ring?" Yuuki enquired

Mr Hung looked past the office towards the training rings, dressage arena and open paddocks. All had someone in them already "I can ask them to leave for you Yuuki..." he began

"Oh, no. Don't do that" she raised a hand "I wanted to see the course first, can I ride past it? We won't jump anything yet. Zero's not warm. We'll use the jumping ring later. The advanced ride isn't until later anyway"

"Yes yes" Mr Hung basked in the smiles of the parents surrounding the girl, all pleased with her planning "Go ahead Yuuki. There are a few judges out there already, I'll phone them and let them know your coming"

The girl nodded and pulled a pair of white riding gloves from their hiding spot under the saddle and tugged them on.

A little girl tugged on her coat "can I come? Rusty and I will be good!"

The little pony, Rusty, didn't move from his lazy position. The jumps would be set to beginner height but Yuuki didn't want the responsibility of a child on warm-up. Fortunately the girls father told her to let 'the girl do what she needs to, you'll get your turn'

Yuuki mounted Zero and rode out; following the map she had in her head of the course. It was just beyond the riding school on a back strip of Ouran High, there was a small forest there behind the sports fields and the course went along its edge, down a hill and back through a path through the tree's. It was simple. A long U shape. The only jump they would have to think about was the downhill, the beginners were skipping it all together. There was 1.5m of obstacle dropping straight to the slope. To fast or to slow were not options if you wanted to keep balance. A hundred meters out Yuuki broke into a loping canter, warming Zero up.

The sports field had a large pavilion on its edge, under which were the same group of men she had seen at the gate earlier that day. Yuuki could see Tamaki with them and a few pastel dresses of those girls who booked the day. From the pavilion stretched umbrellas, viewing points for the club and their guests along the course. There were probably spots inside the forest to.

An hour later Yuuki jumped a bit in the arena at the riding school before heading to the marshalling area for her ride.

There weren't many students to ride and her turn would come in due course.

Zero pranced under her, his neck arched in an egocentric way.

"Show-off" Yuuki muttered and his ears flicked around at her voice before pointing forwards again and continuing his show. His energy was boundless.

The host club was mingling around, waiting for the advanced riders before heading to their vantage points.

A blonde head appeared at Yuuki's hip.

"Good luck Miss Cunxin" Tamaki smiled smoothly

"Thank you" she replied softly

"It's not Beijing, but you'll survive right?" he offered a small white flower for her jacket

Yuuki stared wide eyed at him, how did he know?

As if reading her mind Tamaki spoke again "I'm the superintendent's son, I know. Don't worry; I don't think anyone else does"

He briefly pointed out the other members of the host club to her, giving reasons as to why none would know her tight circled celebrity. He paused on Kyoya "he might know. Kyoya knows allot"

The dark haired boy pushed his glasses up and smiled at a few of the girls he was hosting, obviously there for the profit.

The loudspeaker called ten minutes to the advanced go, Tamaki petted her knee in the same manner that other girls would fall for but found Yuuki to sensible to work on. He smiled and wished her luck again.

Yuuki started the course well, clearing the first few jumps well ahead of her components time. It was smooth, the weather was nice, the grass soft. All was perfect.

Yet, something was not right.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yuuki saw the mother of the girl who rode Rusty yelling.

Then the sound off hoof beats caught up with her. Looking over her shoulder the girl saw the other rider on a bolting horse.

She kept Zero on course, knowing that Rusty would catch up with them at a flat out gallop and she could instruct the girl then.

Even so, the noise was louder; heavier than it should be the scream of the girl more urgent than for a normal situation. Yuuki cleared a jump and looked behind.

Her heart stopped for a second when she saw, instead of Rusty, a large, flighty and scared Arabian.

She knew that horse. It had thrown another rider earlier in the week and wasn't trained properly. A beginner mounting an unpredictable and apparently vindictive horse was almost suicide.

To many things could go wrong on horseback.

"Stupid girl!" Yuuki hissed through her teeth. She pulled Zero in a wide circle and ended up behind the girl and her horse.

She managed to get Zero's head by the other horse's rump in no time. A jump was approaching them, it was low at the middle.

"Pull his head to the middle, use your calves and grip him. Don't you dare get off until I tell you to" Yuuki yelled at her and cleared the jump just after her at a higher point, keeping Zero away from the kicking of the Arab as it tried to get rid of them.

The pavilion was approaching fast, too fast. Just before it was the hill jump and it was high and steep.

Without thinking Yuuki reached for the girl and grabbed her back, making sure she had jacket and shirt in her fist. They were at a flat out gallop. Zero knew what was happening, his rider wasn't scared, annoyed more than anything, but not scared. She wasn't even thinking and would probably regret the attention she was getting at that point.

The host club had all stepped to the edge of the course and various officials were waving people away in order to keep the path clear and not scare the horse more.

Walkie talkies were in high action, conveying the events to the main tent.

Yuuki looked up and saw the jump to close. She might hurt Zero if they pulled up to sharply and that was the last thing she ever wanted.

"Listen to me!" she yelled at the crying girl "let go"

"What!?" she yelled "No!"

"I have you, do it"

The child squeezed her eyes shut and let go, the horse disappeared from under her and Yuuki pulled her towards herself.

The Arab turned sharply and kicked out hard, catching Yuuki in the lower leg with one hoof and Zero with the other.

The girl lost her concentration for a moment and only regained it as Zero took off.

Realising what was happening she let the child go; letting her fall in the flowerbed at the side of the jump. It would have hurt at the speed but she would have got away without any broken bones.

Zero was flying over the jump, obviously not having realised that there was a drop below it.

The kick had thrown him off and he didn't get to turn in time, just like his owner, the crucial moment had been lost to the distraction and they had entered what they had dreaded.

Zero hit the landing much too fast and his front legs buckled on the soft earth, throwing him over onto his back.

Yuuki pulled her feet from the stirrups as he went down and let go of her reins, she had to get away from him.

He would crush her.

She knew people who had been landed on and died.

Rib's puncturing lungs, pelvises being shattered, and untold amounts of internal damage could be done.

She would know, she had been there when it happened to her mother.

Yuuki felt herself hit the ground on her shoulder. She rolled to face the sky and saw Zero's body falling towards her.

Most of her body was out of the but her left side wasn't completely.

Her leg got caught under Zero's shoulder and her own shoulder was trapped under the saddle.

There was a sharp pop and a dull crack as over half a tonne of Olympic horse flesh landed on her slight frame.

She didn't feel it.

Yuuki was too busy watching her horse's legs as they slid down the rest of the slope, hoping that the noises hadn't come from him.

Zero travelled further than she did at the bottom; as soon as he could he pulled himself upright and stumbled away from his master. Horses will not purposely tread on something unless its a threat.

When he stood the girl felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

A horse getting hurt was allot worse than a human.

They healed differently and one break could end their career.

There was a scream at that moment and a blur of people.

A band of adults were keeping the onlookers away and a few were let into the circle.

Yuuki looked for Zero; he had vanished in the sudden commotion. Her head swam and she used her right hand to pull her helmet off and throw it to the side.

Someone appeared beside her.

"Where's Zero?" She asked, her voice dull

There was no reply; the man was pushing her right shoulder back against the slope, forcing her to lie down.

"Where's my horse?" Yuuki cried urgently

"He's fine"

She knew that voice

The girl didn't want his word on it, she wanted to see Zero. She pulled herself up and went to stand on her left leg, as she moved it a fire shot through her entre left side and her vision went black for a second.

Kyoya caught Yuuki as she stumbled "Call the hospital. Tell them it's me. Get a chopper right now and tell the Ootori doctors to get ready for her."

Fear gripped the girl and she looked around urgently for Zero.

"Where's Zero!?" she was panicking

"I told you, he's fine" Kyoya moved the horse was behind him, standing and apparently fine.

"Get someone to check him, make sure he's okay" her voice was becoming slurred, her whole left side was searing with pain.

"Alright Yuuki, alright" he undid the top button of her shirt, freeing her neck from the material.

There was a long pause as Yuuki registered what had happened.

She had fallen off and been landed on.

And it hurt.

She didn't even wonder about the little girl.

It hurt.

"Make it stop" she said softly, there were a few people around her now; Mr Hung was one of them. "It hurts. Make it stop"

"Quiet" the familiar voice said over the others "My brothers are good doctors. They will both be looking after you when you land. Relax. Yuuki, stop moving"

The girl didn't even realise how much she was squirming, her right foot had been digging up the grass and her hand was firmly grasped onto someone's sleeve.

Zero had somehow managed to get closer and stuck his head through the bulge of people surrounding his owner.

The soft skin of his nose brushed the top of her hand and she let go of who she was holding to run it along his face and around his cheek.

It helped a bit

Someone pulled him away and took him to stand at the edge of the forest to await a vet.

Suddenly Yuuki came out of her shock and began to feel everything to its full.

She whimpered. The whimper turned into a cry, not unexpected by anyone.

Spots danced in front of her eyes and then dominated her vision.

The only thing the girl became aware off was the round of chopper blades and the feel of wind on her skin. She could hear Kyoya yelling at the paramedics and knew she was being lifted into a stretcher.

Then she felt nothing.


	4. Chapter 3

_Authors note: _

_Hello readers. Thank you so much for taking the time to view this fanfiction, I would really, really appreciate it if you reviewed it and gave constructive criticism – I would love to make this as enjoyable as possible for you. _

_I am aware that my sentence structure sucks, I do apologise. _

_I have been posting rather quickly, I write quickly. However, it will slow; it's the weekend and I have allot of time to burn seeing as my plans got washed out by a torrent of rain so my mind has been working overtime. During the week expect a slower post-rate. _

_Anyhoo, enjoy chapter three. _

_Please rate and review. _

_--------_

**Chapter 3**

Yuuki opened her eyes and stared at a ceiling she had never seen before. It was white, just white. The wall below it was a washout green and everything else didn't really seem to have a colour.

Her head was swimming and her eyes felt heavy even though she had just woken up.

"Ah, you're awake" a voice to her left said, rising over a hum that seemed to constantly be in the background.

The girl looked to the side and saw a doctor, dressed in a white coat that held two blue pens in its breast pocket. He was writing on a clipboard and had a striking resemblance to another person she knew but couldn't place at present.

Yuuki stared at the man as he brought his full attention to her and moved closer to the bed.

"I'm Dr Ootori. Do you remember what happened?" the doctor took a small torch from his pocket and flashed it in her eyes and then asked her to follow his finger.

"I...I um....yes, I remember" Yuuki replied, dazed by the sudden light

"Do you know what happened to you?" he sat on the end of her bed and stared at the girl.

She shook her head and felt fear climbing into her throat. Her shoulder felt stiff and her leg was sore under the covers.

"Well" Dr Ootori began "You got landed on by a horse. Fortunately he did not land on your abdomen because you would not be here right now. Your lower leg is broken, luckily you are young and it will heal cleanly. As well as this, your shoulder was dislocated and the muscles surrounding it were torn. That's probably why it feels stiff right now. You also got concussion and were speaking in third person for a few minutes before we sedated you to get your bones back in place"

Yuuki frowned; she didn't remember anything about speaking in third person "Can I ride soon?"

The man scowled for a moment "I doubt it"

"How long?"

"Your arm will be out of that sling in two weeks, your leg however will be in a cast and then a walking brace until the end of winter. You can't ride until spring"

The girl nodded "Thank you"

There was a long pause "Is it a problem not being able to ride?"

"No, not really" actually, it was a major problem. She had been sent to Ouran to ride and gain an education so she would actually mean something to her father; but she thought herself only good at one thing. What a disgrace. Three months out of action.

"If you don't mind me asking" Yuuki ran her thumb over her fingernails "Do you know anything about my horse?"

"I do not, I'm sorry. My brother, Kyoya might though, I'll call him"

Kyoya...the name meant something...Kyoya Ootori.

"Oh, no, don't do that. I don't want to be an inconvenience" Yuuki said, piecing together the similarities between the doctor and the boy she had run into at school "when am I allowed to leave?"

Dr Ootori stood and took on a business like, almost menacing manner that he and his brother both had in common "We need to keep you another night for observation, but you will be good to go tomorrow. Monday"

"Thank you sir" the girl said quietly as the doctor left the room.

As he did, a flurry of activity appeared in the doorway.

There were seven heads, all dressed in casual, walking into the private hospital suit.

"Yuuki-Chan! We came to cheer you up!" a blonde boy of about seven called from the shoulders of a dark, tall senior.

Yuuki realised that the little boy was actually a senior as well. Much to her surprise.

Tamaki was there as well, a pair of twins, the androgynous man and Kyoya.

"We came to see you princess" Tamaki declared before introducing the host club to the bedridden.

"Hikaru and Kouru, Mori and Hunny, Haruhi and you know Kyoya already"

"Pleased to meet you" was the polite reply

"Yuuki-Chan! Did you really go to the Olympics?" Hunny asked climbing down Mori's shoulders and placing himself at her unharmed arm.

"Um" she was surprised, how many people now knew? "Yes, I did"

"Was it exciting?" asked one of the twins, she didn't know which

"I guess so"

"Did you meet Michael Phelps?" Haruhi enquired, her voice was very high for a guys

Yuuki laughed, it was a surprisingly sweet sound – like a small bell "He's a swimmer"

"Surely there must have been parties? You met him there?" Tamaki was entranced

"No, I did not meet Michael Phelps"

"At all?"

"At all" Yuuki was a little taken aback at the sudden attention, except from Mori, but needed to ask a question "How many people know about...my...um...riding?"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up "After that event, most of the school"

"I thought...most people were at different events?"

"Most people who would gossip were with the host club"

"Oh" she was inwardly screaming. She didn't like attention. Even this was uncomfortable.

"So" Tamaki asked "how long until you ride again?"

Yuuki looked at her blanket and ran her fingers under the sling behind her neck "Spring"

"Three months?" Kyoya looked up from where he was standing

The girl nodded slowly

"Aren't you at Ouran on a riding scholarship though?"

"I don't really know. No one told me I was coming until two days before"

Hunny crawled closer "No one told you? Why?"

"Less time to argue I guess"

"You don't look like the arguing type" Hikaru and Kouru said simultaneously

Yuuki shrugged silently "maybe that's why they kicked me out"

It was true; she didn't have the gall to make it in the business world. She had never been taught the ropes of it. Maybe she could one day, but all she had ever known was riding.

That was obviously all about to change.

"What happened to Zero?" Yuuki enquired softly

"He was taken back the stable, the little girl, in case you were wondering, is fine" Kyoya's voice was calculating, there was no emotion behind it.

"It was so cool what you did" Hunny oozed "Except for falling off, that wasn't so great."

Yuuki smiled, Hunny was sweet.

"Oi!" a voice called from the door, a nurse appeared "not so many at once"

"Sorry" Tamaki looked at the woman "we'll only be a minute"

She melted under his gaze and nodded before disappearing.

The host club dispersed, promising to come the next day to pick her up. They would be her friends at Ouran it seemed, whether Yuuki liked it or not.

It seemed though that she didn't really have anything else to do now that she was out of action.

Kyoya stayed where he was as the others left and stared after them as they did so.

"Tamaki is an idiot, please ignore him. The host club is obviously a social circle you wanted to avoid"

Yuuki was surprised "I don't...understand?"

"You never came before, the Prince's appeal didn't draw you in. Too much sense in you"

"You don't know me. I had other things to do"

"Everyday?"

She felt her anger rising in defence "You don't know anything about what me or what I do"

"No. I don't" the way he said it implied that he didn't know yet, not that he just didn't know

"If it's any consolation, my no show was nothing against you. I just wasn't appealed to by French charm. Too..."

"Silly?"

"Maybe"

"Well" Kyoya's voice never changed "Maybe we're not all silly. We cater to all needs"

"I don't have needs"

Ootori frowned "Wants then"

Yuuki didn't know what direction this conversation was going, it felt strangely like he was selling her something "I want..."

Kyoya waited. He didn't seem the type to hang around unless it profited him.

Yuuki dropped it, she didn't know Kyoya at all, he didn't need to know "I guess I'll come around sometime, your friends seem nice"

The man pushed his glasses up and closed his eyes for a split second longer than normal before saying a curt goodbye and leaving.

Kyoya scared Yuuki a bit. He was so cold, hard almost. Manipulative. It was as if everything was for his gain even at the loss of others. Yet, she had seen bits of him that suggested otherwise.

He intrigued her. She couldn't work him out.

It was vice versa for Kyoya.

Yuuki was, interesting, for lack of a better word.

An individual who didn't like the public eye but would throw themselves spontaneously into something in order to gain a desired outcome. He couldn't read her like he read other people. Her expressions changed constantly, varying from sadness and confusion to joy and surprise within a second. Yet, most of the time he couldn't pick what feeling she was undergoing. And it was obscenely annoying.

They both hadn't known each other very long; even so they were drawn, unconsciously to each other.

Whether they realised it or not.

The next day Tamaki arrived at the hospital carrying aloft a hideous yellow uniform.

Yuuki scowled at it.

"What?" he asked

"Would you wear that?" she pointed at the dress

Tamaki looked at it "No, probably not"

"Hmm" she sighed and sat up, twisting her body sideways and letting her bulky left leg swing over the edge. The plaster was heavy.

"Well" Tamaki pulled another package out from behind his back "I'm sure the school wouldn't mind if the superintendent's son got you to wear something more comfortable for your present...situation" he grinned

Yuuki took the package and opened it, inside was a comfortable looking long sleeved white shirt and a brown bomber jacket. Beneath that was a pair of flair jeans that she could fit her cast into.

"Thank you Tamaki" she said hopping onto her right foot, she had practiced moving on one limb the day before and still hadn't mastered it

"How's your head?"

"meh, how's my horse?"

Their relationship, though painfully new, was opening. Surprising both silently. Tamaki loved Haruhi, it had taken a long time for him to realise that, but he did. There was nothing more between himself and the new girl that an ease of nature, two personalities that didn't clash, yet.

"You're the one in hospital" he laughed

Yuuki disappeared into her private bathroom and got dressed and re-emerged trying to put her sling back on.

"You're not supposed to take it off" Tamaki said, lifting it over her head and sliding her wrist into the sling in the intimate manner he addressed most women with.

Yuuki ran her hand through her hair, she had smoothed it in the bathroom – it didn't generally misbehave – but she hadn't seen a brush in two days.

The twins appeared in the doorway, each holding aloft a crutch "The nurse said to give this to you"

Yuuki wondered how she could use two when she only had one arm available and said so.

Hikaru, or Kouru, she couldn't tell, gave her just the one while the other twin yelled the reasoning down the hall.

Yuuki felt helpless, she couldn't move.

She lived for movement.

She desired it more than anything, to be able to function without help.

And she hadn't even got to do anything yet.


	5. Chapter 4

AUTHORS NOTE: Yes, the lyrics to Rebirthing by Skillet inspired this. Thus this chapter is a song-chapter. Kind of. Not really.

Read and review.

**Chapter 4**

It took Yuuki two days to master crutches. Or, crutch.

In just one day, stairs had become her greatest enemy.

On the third day she had to teach a class of beginners riding. She didn't want to, seeing as she couldn't ride herself and it was beginning to get very cold.

The young students had all tacked and mounted by the time she stumbled into the ring.

"Afternoon Yuuki sempai!" they chorused joyously.

Yuuki buried her free hand into the warmth of her coat and pulled the other deep into the cloth of the sling. She asked them to trot around the ring and not stop until she told them to.

Mr Hung was standing on the railing behind her, watching eagerly, along with various parents.

Much to Yuuki's silent annoyance, numerous students were also there.

Her title of Olympian had spread and people became interested, they wanted to talk about Beijing 2008 and the newspaper club had even written a whole page on her achievements. Which, didn't actually fit a while page, but the pictures helped.

The riders were a mess. Just like the other riders in her beginner group when she had begun. She had been the only one seemingly born to sit in a saddle. Yuuki remembered the lesson that day. The instructor had been injured, just like she was. And annoyed at the messy ranks. The same.

She had also been quiet, polite and rather introverted until it came to doing her job right.

She had been Yuuki's mother.

"Stop!" Yuuki yelled across the ring "Line up in the middle of the arena"

She hobbled forward and stood a few meters in front of where she had asked them to pull up.

After three minutes, a line was formed and the students stared expectantly down.

"Dismount" her voice was hard.

Yuuki was sick of watching the girl who had put her in her state ride around in such an unruly manner along with her peers. If they were going to ride, they were going to do it right. No more polite nature, her shyness had turned into a quiet, stern nature.

The kids dropped to the ground uncertainly.

"Line up in front of your horses"

They did so.

Yuuki scrutinised them as her first instructor had done her. She was giving them the hardest lesson she had ever received.

"If you want to ride well, then you're going to have to learn to behave well. Walking, talking, etiquette"

A parent called out "They already know that"

Yuuki ignored him and turned to the first student in the line. He was around ten years of age and dressed casually in jeans with unpolished brown boots. His shirt wasn't ironed and his helmet didn't fit properly.

"Look after your boots, shining them doesn't just make them look nice. We ride in jodhpurs and our helmets fit. Iron your shirt. Your posture is good though"

The girl next to him stared, shocked, at her instructor as her turn came.

"Please, tie your hair when you ride. Your dress is correct, but you're not wearing it right. Stand straight"

This continued until the fifth student when Yuuki paused and moved back a bit to address them all.

"If you cannot look after yourselves, present yourselves correctly and move with precision, then you cannot be expected to do the same with your horses. Horse riding is not a hobby, it is a sport. It is hard. It hurts. A few of you once told me that you aspired to be like me. When I was your age I had already competed in district levels and won. Why? Because I wore my riding clothes like a uniform, I spoke as if I was addressing the president, I stood like a beanpole and" she paused "I wanted it"

She didn't elaborate on why, Yuuki could feel a desperation she couldn't explain rising within her.

She wanted to ride. Badly. Without riding, she didn't know what she was. She didn't want to teach others, she wanted to do it herself. But if she was going to teach to stay here, then she was going to teach. Yuuki didn't want to leave Ouran now. The girl had developed a strange friendship with the odd blonde boy who sat next to her and was contemplating attending a club. It was more than she had ever found at home.

Even though her social skills were off, she had been bred with etiquette in order to ride like a pro, taught to stand, walk, talk and move in order to carry it across in all areas of life. She was a nobleman's daughter. And she had failed at everything besides her riding. It was the world to her and if others couldn't do it right, they were abusing that world. They were tarnishing the very essence of the gold she had won for her country.

"Dismissed" Yuuki turned away from the students and limped towards the gate.

Mr Hung opened it for her and let the girl hobble through.

Various parents and students whispered amongst themselves, questioning the mysterious actions of the girl.

A parent called out after her "What is your problem?"

Yuuki looked over her shoulder and then continued, unlocking her horse's stall and letting herself inside the warm chamber.

"Hey pretty thing" she cooed as Zero turned from his feed bin to her and stuck his nose into her belly.

"Don't do that" She dug into the pocket he was going at and pulled out a small box of sugar cubes "I can't balance properly"

Yuuki liked the feel of his nose in her palm, he wasn't listening and she didn't really mind.

_I lie here paralytic inside this soul, Screaming for you till my throat is numb, I wanna break out  
I need a way out, I don't believe that it's gotta be this way.  
The worst is the waiting  
In this Womb I'm suffocating  
_

Zero nickered softly at his owner as she let a tear out. She had been cut off from her only vice and it was freaking her out. She didn't know what to do to be happy anymore. She didn't know how to achieve when her only achievement was off limits.

_I lie here lifeless in this cocoon, Shedding my skin cause I'm ready to  
I wanna break out. I need a way out. I don't believe that it's gotta be this way_

Yuuki pressed herself against Zero, feeling him warm next to her.

"What's dad going to do? He's going to kill me" she whispered into his shoulder

"He sent me here to get better at...stuff...like business, I guess hey boy? I don't know...I was never good at stuff. I never...tried...other stuff"

It was the truth, she had never tried anything but that which she was already good at. Thus, everything else caused her no effort and she never did well at it.

Zero twisted his head around to snuffle in the back pocket of her jeans, seeking more treats.

Yuuki laughed softly and pushed his head away.

There was a knock at the door. Someone was standing in the half entrance.

Yuuki turned, wiping the moisture off her face as she did so.

Kyoya was standing there, clipboard ever at the ready.

"That was a very bold act" he said, same calculating voice

Yuuki leaned away from her horse "It was a very stupid thing to do. No emotion in business right?"

She figured he would know the rule.

"Apparently" he pushed his glasses up, a ghost of a smile flicking across his face "Can I come in?"

"Um, yeah" Yuuki shoved Zero's rump slightly to create some room in the stall

"This is the horse you took to Beijing?" he talked about Zero as if he was a product

Yuuki ran her free hand through her hair "He is"

"Breed?"

"Warm blood"

"Dutch?"

"How did you know?"

"Research" Kyoya said that he had been looking into her bio with such ease

Yuuki put a hand on Zero's neck "I didn't get a chance to thank you...for...Saturday"

The man pushed his glasses up again "Don't mention it" pause "I actually came because my brother wanted to know how your head felt"

"Oh" the girl dropped her gaze from his face "Its fine, I've had worse"

"Really?" he actually seemed interested

"Yeah"

"Falling off a local pastime?"

Yuuki laughed softly "They say you're not an experienced rider until you come off ten times"

"How many have you fallen?"

She had to think for a moment "Six, including Saturday"

Kyoya smiled for real this time, an act that set Yuuki on edge slightly, it seemed abnormal; almost manipulating.

"Just four more then"

"So help me, no"

Ootori was surprised "Don't you want to be experienced?"

Yuuki smiled softly as Zero tried to eat her pocket again "I don't know who 'they' are, but experience isn't measured by falling. 'They' have obviously never fallen off"

"What's he doing?" Kyoya motioned at Zero

Yuuki pulled the box of sugar cubes out, still half full "He wants these"

The horses nose followed the box out of the pocket and into the air.

The girl opened it and took a cube out "You want to give him one?"

"Um" Kyoya seemed uneasy

"It's really not that bad" Yuuki gently took his wrist and turned his palm up, putting the sugar in it before he could say no.

When it came to horses, she believed that everyone should experience the bond between the massive animal and a fragile human.

"Keep your hand flat"

Zero didn't waste any time in pressing his nose to Kyoya's hand and eating the sugar off it.

"Okay, why?" he asked, obviously unnerved and not liking being so.

"He'll bite you my mistake"

"Personal experience?"

Yuuki held up her right hand, there was a thin white line along the base of her little finger from where she had fed Zero and not been paying attention.

Kyoya looked uneasy. The girl reached into the tack room and handed him a cloth to wipe the moisture off his hand.

Ootori was interested in the little side room and he pushed past the girl and flicked on the light.

Four different type of saddle lined the wall, different coloured saddle blankets sat under them and polished bridles hung from hooks near the door. There was also an array of brushes, picks, a few bottles of shampoo.

"This is all his?"

"Um, yeah. Stock saddle, English all purpose, dressage and jumping" she pointed at the various pieces of equipment "The bridles all have different bits, I like using the snaffle but sometimes we don't use one at all when training, stops him from being turned by just his head and getting a hard mouth."

"Why can't you ride in one saddle?" Kyoya's 'need to know about everything' persona was coming out

Yuuki pointed out the differences in saddle and the what each was used for, surprised that he wasn't bored by it all.

"Side saddle?" he enquired, never using more words than necessary.

The girl leant against the door, taking the weight off her crutch as it was digging into her underarm "I've...tried" she smiled remembering a private moment

"Tried?" Kyoya put down a bottle he was examining

"Co-ordination is not my greatest attribute, it's up there, but it's not amazing"

"Fourth time you fell off?" he guessed

"Third" she corrected "Christmas fair"

"Oh" Kyoya pretended not to be interested in the rest of the story

Yuuki looked at the clock above the door in the tack room and left her crutch against the wall. There wasn't enough space in the room for both of them and a piece of medical equipment.

She hopped on one leg over to a line of brushes and picked one up and blew it before putting it back, perfectly in line with the others.

"Sorry" she said, turning back to Kyoya "I like things ordered and neat...ish"

"Neat-ish?"

"My closed can be described as 'organised chaos' but it works for me. The rest is pretty good though"

"Your closet?" Yuuki wondered why he was asking so many questions

"I guess I'm just another rich girl after all" She made her way back to the door and exited back into the stall.

Kyoya followed.

It was early evening outside and raining softly. The pair let themselves out into the yard and moved undercover to the entrance. Yuuki began to venture into the weather to her dorm but felt a hand on her shoulder before she could.

She flinched, wrong shoulder.

Kyoya apologised but nodded towards a man holding a black umbrella walking from a car in the courtyard.

He took it and held it above himself and Yuuki as the man disappeared back through the rain.

"Um...You'll find that I go about three times slower now" Yuuki said as they reached the middle of the courtyard "I don't mind the rain"

"I don't mind helping" something in his tone suggested that maybe he did just a bit.

When they reached the dorm Kyoya popped the umbrella down as Yuuki started her climb up the stairs. He followed.

"I'm fine Kyoya" she said, not wanting to displace anyone for herself.

"Your moving one mile an hour, up stairs, on wet crutches after self admittedly having some issues with co-ordination"

Yuuki was surprised at how much he had payed attention and wondered about the Ootori boy. She wasn't prepared to tell him the intimate details of her life so she wouldn't ask about his.

Her room was on the third floor and it took twenty minutes to reach in her disabled state.

"Isn't there a lower room?" Kyoya asked

"All full, and none of them very nice" was the reply above the click of the lock.

The man pushed his glasses up as the girl left her walking aid just inside the door and hopped through her room on one leg.

He seemed slightly amused "There must be an easier way" he remarked

"Invent a comfortable set of crutches and there will be" there was a note on the fridge

_Your dinner could not be made this evening as the chef is unwell. _

_He suggested this though. _

_Very sorry Miss Cunxin. _

There was a number attached to an advertisement for a gourmet restaurant that delivered.

Instead of going for the phone Yuuki went into the fridge.

Kyoya read the discarded piece of paper and eyed the girl as she moved to a cupboard, giving up on the fridge.

"You could just call the number" he said

Yuuki surfaced with two ramen cups "You want one?"

"Commoner food?"

She shrugged "When in Rome..."

"You're in Ouran"

"And there are more stairs in here than there should be. Why do something if you end up losing more than you get. Pick a flavour."

She never said more than she really needed to people she didn't really know. There was no way she was hobbling up and down the stairs just to get dinner and having it cold when she got upstairs.

Yuuki boiled the kettle.

"You are very strange" Kyoya said heading for the door, obviously not staying

"And Tamaki calls you mother" Yuuki leant against the kitchen counter and looked at him "I feel very sorry for your biological children"

Kyoya smiled; again it was slightly menacing and threw the girl off a bit.

"Good night Yuuki"


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Yuuki rose after her last period on Friday, she didn't have any classes to take and someone had already booked the arena so she couldn't lunge Zero.

Her classmates eyed her curiously as she mastered her books and crutch and made her way through the door. Practically everyone had asked to see her gold, to which she replied that it was at home.

The celebrity was dying away; no one at the school was really a big fan of equestrian unless they did it themselves.

"Are you coming to the third music room today Yuuki?" Tamaki appeared at her side

"Third music room?" she had no idea what that meant "Is that a code for something?"

The blonde paused, amused "You must be the only girl in the school who doesn't know where the host club is situated"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Yuuki apologised

"What for?"

She juggled her books against her sling to balance them "I...don't really know. For not knowing?"

Yuuki had been apologising about not knowing things her whole life, it had become a habit.

Tamaki took her books and walked off with them "If you want them back, come this afternoon"

"No! Tam..." she reached after him and sighed, he was already gone.

Yuuki swore under her breath in English.

"It's not that bad" a voice came from behind her "you might enjoy yourself"

Kyoya had a hand in his pocket and a book in the other "I didn't know you were so proficient in English?"

Yuuki went red for a moment, she never swore "Um...I was born in England, my mother was the daughter of an agricultural firm there – met my father at a function"

"You're English?"

"I'm half, like Tamaki is half French"

"How did you pick that?" he seemed curiously bemused

Yuuki navigated through the crowd of students "He has blonde hair, really strange, violet eyes and knows how to woo X chromosomes into submission"

Kyoya smiled "Haruhi didn't pick it"

"Haruhi is a girl right?"

Kyoya stopped in his tracks and pushed his glasses up, silently impressed "Yes"

"It's a secret?"

"Yes"

"Okay"

"You're not going to ask why?"

Yuuki kept moving "if it has anything to do with you, I probably don't want to know"

Kyoya matched her slow pace "What does that mean?"

"Calculating, devious, mysterious; you're not a person I want to owe anything too"

Ootori eyed the girl "And you're bizarre, exceptionally fragile and will probably end up owing me something"

"It's quite the possibility" and it was, Yuuki knew it.

"Quite"

Kyoya was smiling, but it was different this time. As if they had passed a social boundary into another region of acquaintance.

A few minutes later they were both standing at the base of a huge staircase. Yuuki hadn't even realised that she hadn't been headed anywhere in particular. She and Kyoya had started talking about people, Yuuki guessing what they were like and Ootori telling her if she was right or wrong.

People reading seemed to be something she had a knack for.

"Where is this?" the girl asked

Kyoya looked at her out of the corner of his eye; she was a good head shorter than him so he ended up turning his head a bit. "The third music room is up the stairs at the end of the hall"

Yuuki turned to him "Well, stairs confirmed it, bad idea and I have..."

"To lunge Zero? The arena is booked"

It clicked "You planned this?"

He pushed his glasses up and smiled again before Mori and Hunny appeared.

The former put an arm around the girl's waist and turned her so that her good side was against him before lifting her. It was like hugging a bear without arms while flying. Hunny was on his shoulder and said a cheery hello.

Yuuki made a little cry of surprise and shot a glare at Kyoya as he followed behind.

Mori made little effort of carrying her up the stairs before setting her on the floor once more.

And now it would be a struggle to leave down the stairs.

"Um. Thank you" Yuuki said to Mori.

He smiled gently and walked down the corridor.

Kyoya was smiling evilly and Yuuki didn't talk to him, she just followed the pair already gone.

"You'll thank me one day" he said, matching her halted stride

"Whatever" Yuuki stuck her crutch under his leg and he tripped

"You'll thank me one day" she shot back, now even

Kyoya had to fix his glasses "And I'm the deviant"

The girl smiled and opened the door to the Third Music room.

Inside, Mori, Hunny, Haruhi, Tamaki, Hikaru and Kyoya were all seated around various tables, preparing for the afternoon.

"Yuuki!" Tamaki spread his arms wide and wrapped them around the girl "You came!"

The girl pushed him off, he had pressed to hard against her sore shoulder "Whether I came or that I'm just here is open to debate"

Hikaru and Kouru smiled in unison before speaking "Kyoya is the shadow king, you can't expect anything with him"

Shadow King? Yuuki wondered "Apparently, he owes me now"

Kyoya chuckled as he sat and opened a laptop "Apparently"

He was having fun with his little game. It was the hardest he had toyed with, unpredictable, quiet, shy and yet exceptionally curious. She was more than she credited herself for.

Yuuki just found him annoying and a little bit scary.

Haruhi was told that Yuuki knew she was a girl and they spent the afternoon conversing. They were allot alike; Haruhi was just a little more spontaneous with her thoughts than Yuuki was.

The customers arrived in a gooey fangirl mess and a few of them decided to use Yuuki as company, asking a flurry of questions about the previous Saturday.

"Do you have your gold medal here?" one asked

In truth, Yuuki did, she took it on long journeys as a sort of good luck charm, she didn't want to tell another person that it was at home so she said yes, she did, in a safe place.

"Can we see it?" another gushed

Yuuki felt particularly unglamorous with her broken leg and sling, the attention wasn't helping. "Not right now, it's too difficult to get it"

"On Monday then?" the first girl asked, her eyes alight.

Kyoya paused in his hosting to hear her answer

"Maybe, if the arena is taken"

The man smiled and carried on what he was doing. Yuuki could find another way to keep her horse fit as far as he was concerned.

That afternoon, Kyoya and Haruhi walked Yuuki back to her dorm.

In the courtyard that separated the stable and the dorm sat a car, a VW Tiguan to which a horse float was attached.

Yuuki paused; something was being loaded into the float.

Her eyes widened for a moment in fright "No!"

Her friends started at the sudden outburst and were surprised when Yuuki made her way hurriedly towards the car.

A man with hair dark like his daughters was making his way from the back of the float to the front of the car.

"What are you doing?" Yuuki cried, getting closer

"Teaching you a lesson" her father hissed

She didn't understand and said so

He turned on her "you ruined our name with your little hero antics. It was all over the news. 'The Olympian miscalculates a jump'" he laughed mockingly "How did you not slow down? Maybe you're as bad at riding as you are at everything else after all"

"Why are you taking Zero away?" her horse whinnied a greeting from the trailer, not understanding that they were being separated

"It's not like you can ride him, one less distraction so you won't be worthless at proper school life"

Yuuki was angry and confused "What is your problem? I'm good at things, you just never give me the chance to be"

Her father laughed

"Let my horse out"

"Make me" he leant against the car, amused

"Let my horse out!" she yelled at him.

Kyoya appeared behind her "Mr Cunxin, it would be wise of you to release the animal"

"Oh" he looked the other man over "and who are you?"

"Ootori Kyoya and you do not want to make enemies with my family, sir" he said it in a very civil manner but the threat was still evident.

"Ootori group business and mine does not overlap, thus my offending you would have no effect on the economy. People need the Cunxin group as much as they need yours."

He had a point; Kyoya still looked him in the eye "All the same"

Yuuki got confidence from her new friend and dared to say what she wanted to most of her life "You're taking it out on me because mom died right?"

Her father hesitated for a moment "Your mother didn't die Yuuki, you killed her"

His daughter was shocked at his words "I did? It was your fault!"

He hit her. Hard. "You little brat!"

Kyoya took a step forward in retaliation; Haruhi had decided to stay out of it until she was asked to join in. Yuuki stopped Ootori, she refused to touch the abused area in her father's presence, nor would she allow a friend to get hurt defending her.

"I ought to disown you" Mr Cunxin hissed in Yuuki's face

"Then do it" she said quietly back

Her father leaned back "Fine. There's no point paying your school fees if you're going to fail at it anyway"

He got into his car and slammed the door.

"Let Zero out!" Yuuki gripped the open window "Don't you dare drive away with MY horse!"

Kyoya and Haruhi couldn't do anything as Yuuki's father closed the window and accelerated away.

The girl dropped her crutch and tried to run after the horse float.

They could all hear the thud as Zero got upset by the commotion and kicked the back of his cabin.

Yuuki stared at the empty rode.

Kyoya opened his phone and was about to ask the guards at the gate to stop the car when Yuuki put a hand on his arm and stopped him.

She left her walking aid on the ground and limped to her dorm. Haruhi tried to talk to her but got no response.

They followed the girl up to her dorm, Kyoya convincing Yuuki to use her crutch to get up the stairs halfway there.

"I'm tired" were the first words they got out of her before the girl closed the door in their faces.

Two hours later, Kyoya had come back to the dorm and got a key to Yuuki's room from the warden. He just told the woman that Yuuki would be moving out and he was here to help.

Room nine was silent when he entered.

The dining room, kitchen and lounge were all empty.

The bedroom door stood slightly ajar.

Kyoya pushed it open and discovered a large Louis Vitton suitcase on the bed, half filled with clothes.

Yuuki hopped out of a door near the one he stood in and dropped more inside, turning she met his gaze before continuing on her way.

He followed her into the walk in robe and carried a pile of pants to the suitcase before he sat on the bed and watched her bring the last of it. She had already packed her other bags.

"The car is downstairs. I talked to my father"

Yuuki paused as she tried to zip the suitcase up, it got caught on some clothing and she couldn't get it out of the way with her incapacitated arm. Kyoya did it for her.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, standing up straight

"I was surprised he agreed, but seeing as your the daughter of Cunxin enterprises and not yet disowned, he has allowed you to stay in the spare room" pause "one of the spare rooms"

"I can't go to Ouran anymore Kyoya, I can't afford that, even on my savings" she ran a hand through her hair

"We would pay"

"This is part of your my ending up owing you something prediction, isn't it?"

He smiled in a hushed manner "Just being opportunistic"

"Very sadistic of you"

"I'm not a sadist"

"Just manipulative"

Kyoya stood "I would like to have you close by"

Yuuki pulled her suitcase off the bed and rolled it to the door "Why?"

"I can't...read you like I read others. If I'm going to be honest, I'd say it was an obsession"

"Trying to understand me?"

"Yes" his words held caution after having laid down an emotion on the table.

"Well, I don't even know. It's a pretty worthless exercise anyway"

Kyoya's jaw tightened "You are so full of it"

"Excuse me?"

"You're just going to give up? Is that it?"

Yuuki got a small fright at his outburst "I..."

He cut her off "I'm the third son, the THIRD son, if I can buy my father's business from an opposing company and give it back to him before I'm out of school, then you sure as hell can stay at Ouran and prove your father wrong to"

Yuuki stood silent "But..."

"Don't. I'll teach you myself if I have to. Where were you going to go anyway?"

The girl shrugged hesitantly, feeling raw inside

Kyoya opened his mobile and called the driver and asked him to come to room nine to fetch Miss Cunxin's luggage.

Yuuki stared at him, not knowing what to do. Everything had happened to fast. "Why...."

Ootori relaxed a bit "Would I do something if it was a loss in the long run?"

"Probably not..."

"Exactly. My father can make it very difficult for yours to divorce you"

"I don't want you going to the trouble..."

"You need to get a grip Yuuki. Stand on your own two feet" pause "hypothetically"

She laughed and wrapped her free arm around the man she had found a friend in "I really do, don't I?"


	7. Chapter 6

AUTHORS NOTE: I am aware that my chapters are rather long comparatively to other fanfiction's; if this is an issue please say so.

Thank you for the reviews thus far, your interest in my story helps keep it going.

Tell me what you like, what you don't ect.

Blessings.

-

_Like it, love it, hate it, whatever. Just enjoy it. (Rin on the Rox) _

**Chapter 6**

**-**

Yuuki sat silently in the car as it pulled into the Ootori estate.

The house was the biggest she had ever seen.

Ever.

She already felt awkward moving in with people she didn't know, but it was even worse when they were powerful, elite, rich people. Even though she had lived in a house like that, there were no relationships to go on and she was pretty sure her foyer was only half the size.

It was late when they got in, most of the household was doing their own thing in the silence of mid-evening.

Someone carried Yuuki's bags in, she didn't know who. There were no saddles to unload, no smell of leather. Just empty riding gloves and a cold jacket.

It was odd settling into a place without having first settled Zero.

Yuuki sat on her bed, her cast dangling off the bed and her other foot tucked behind her. In her hands she held a riding helmet covered in black velvet. There was a chunk of fabric missing on the back where she had landed. The girl traced the hole, even though she couldn't remember the moment it had happened.

She swore, but this time in German.

"Why is it that you always swear in other languages?" Kyoya was standing in the doorway

Yuuki put the helmet down "Why is it that you always understand what I'm saying in other languages?"

"German and English are studied at Ouran" they were two of his favourite subjects, but she didn't need to know that

"You learn curse words in language studies?"

"Not...technically" he smiled "Is everything alright"

"Yeah" Yuuki looked around, her room was on the first story, thankfully "I'm so sorry"

Kyoya frowned "Why?"

"I'm invading your privacy and your home and you're paying my school fees..." she pulled the sling off her arm so that she could get ready for a shower

"We did say that you becoming indebted to me was quite the possibility" he always spoke as if he was looking for profit in something, almost greedy in his mannerisms.

"Quite" Yuuki picked up her helmet and put it down again.

Kyoya took it from the edge of her bed and sat down, the item in his lap.

"What happened the first time you fell off?" he asked curiously

Yuuki knew form what Haruhi had told her that Kyoya didn't ask personal questions, he googled them instead or hacked into security networks. Obviously it hadn't worked in this case.

"Why?"

"I'm interested"

Yuuki sighed "First time the horse pigrooted because I gave mixed signals"

"And the second?"

She ignored him "You know about the third, the side saddle, the fourth was a barrel race, the fifth was when Zero went through a jump not over it, the sixth you were there for"

"What happened the second time"

Yuuki stood, wondering why he wanted to know "I have to shower"

"Yuuki, you're in my house" he said it as if she owed him something, as if, because she had invaded his private life he could invade her personal one.

She looked at the floor and ran her thumbnail under her pointer finger

"Your dad said something about your mom and you didn't want to talk about falling the other day"

"Observant" she said softly "If you really want to know...um...it was at a local gymkhana, at night at the end of the day, before the fireworks. I was six. My mother was taking me around on her horse. And...uh...someone's car misfired. Her horse didn't like loud noises at all, it wasn't properly broken yet. It reared up and...um...bolted. My mom could ride but I was in front of her and she couldn't do much except tell me to pull hard right. So I did but there was a rode direct right and neither of us had seen it. We were going that fast."

Yuuki stopped "Why do you want to know this?"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up, emotion wasn't registering on his face "Because I can't hack into your database, please continue"

The girl ignored his comment, Haruhi had been right "Well...were just going to cross the road and go into a big field on the other side but it was winter and the horse slipped. There was a big truck coming at us and when the horse fell I was thrown off the road into a ditch, it landed on my mother and crushed her. Um. Her foot got stuck in the stirrup and the horse was freaking out in the trucks headlights...so it didn't move out of the way, it just stood there...the truck had too much momentum going and didn't stop in time, even though the driver had full breaks on. They both disappeared under it before anyone could do anything. She might have already been dead by the time she was run over. All you could hear was the tyres screaming on the road." She looked at her hands "I guess freak accidents run in the family."

Yuuki shrugged.

Kyoya was silent "Who's car was it"

"My dad said he would never buy a Toyota again, he didn't care about the towing capacity"

The girl opened a bag that had been left on the desk in her room. She pulled a laptop out and opened a news site, the headline for a few days before was:

_Like mother, like daughter: The horse world comes close to losing another great_

"It's my dad's favourite website"

"Your mother was an Olympian?" Kyoya read the article

Yuuki nodded

"So you're going to Beijing was a compensation of sorts?"

The girl made a clicking noise "yeah"

"So..." Yuuki could see his mind working "After your mother died, your father bought you Zero so that you could finish the legacy she had started. You were already good so the talent just took off while everything you should have been got left behind and held onto like your mother"

"Thank you Dr Phil"

"I'm sorry" he actually sounded it "you're just very hard to get information about"

"Apparently" pause "thank you for letting me stay here" Yuuki sniffed and rubbed her left shoulder, it felt better.

Kyoya took her hand off the shoulder and pulled the fabric of her shirt down over it. The area had a light blue tinge to it, surrounded by the milky skin of a girl whose mother had been English. He ran a thumb over the shoulder, Yuuki pulled away.

"That hurts, what are you doing?"

"I think don't think you need to wear the sling anymore"

"You're not a doctor" she was upset and tired and had a temper that was hard to start but snappy once it began

"Not yet. You're not a psychologist and yet you read people like an open book. We share that talent"

"It's not a talent. People watching is a hobby." There was a long pause "That sounded really creepy"

"It did" Kyoya smiled and walked to the door "sleep in tomorrow"

Yuuki didn't know how to feel after that ordeal.

She had spoken about her mother to someone for the first time in ever. And it had left a raw patch inside like that which had been left after she had died, like after her father had abused her for not winning her first competition, like when Zero had been taken away.

Like when Kyoya had smiled at her for the first time.

It was like someone had scrubbed part of her away and not bothered to put anything to help heal the abused area. It healed by itself and scared, blocking the entrance into various places of her being.

Yet at the same time...she felt lighter. As if excess baggage had been dropped if not forgotten.

-

That night Yuuki dreamed about horse floats, truck drivers and a mysterious pair of glasses.

-

The next morning Yuuki woke up and didn't know where she was.

The events of the day before hit her like a tonne of bricks and she rolled out of bed, her cast hitting the floor with a thunk.

She walked past her sling and straight into the bathroom.

The girl had slept in, the time was now seven thirty on Saturday morning and she felt useless.

Saturday mornings from six till eight were dedicated to Zero and now they had been dedicated to sleep.

Yuuki looked in the mirror and cringed. She had cried to sleep for the first time in years.

The overload of stress, fatigue and emotion had been too much.

Her hair was like a haystack, fortunately the only blemish on her face was a pillow line where the fabric had creased and imprinted on her skin. The abused shoulder still had a bluish tinge with a few black patches and she could move it with little stiffness. Kyoya might have been right after all.

Yuuki showered and then dressed casually. She pulled on a white long sleeved shirt and grabbed the brown bomber jacket that Tamaki had given her. It smelled like leather and that gave her comfort.

The only thing that fit over the massive cast and wasn't dirty was a pair of white track pants.

She pinned her damp fringe back with a clip and then couldn't think of anything else to do.

So, the girl sat and wondered if exploring the house was a bad thing. She decided against it and opened the sliding door on the windowed side of her room and escaped into the morning. Her crutch sunk deep into the dewy grass.

Looking back Yuuki saw that almost the whole side of the house that her room was on was made out of glass. She wondered why, but when she looked at the view she understood.

The Ootori house looked at over a massive estate upon which oak, maple and cherry blossoms all hung naked against the oncoming winter.

Yuuki stood beneath one of the oaks and stared at the view, past the estate Ouran could be seen and beyond that the hills which you had to drive over to get to her estate.

She sighed and noticed that her breath became fog, winter had officially started.

The wind was gentle but it was of the sort that got through jackets. The girl turned back to the house and the warmth it provided.

Yuuki remembered how on winter mornings she would groom Zero for much longer than necessary because of the warmth he emitted.

She missed him.

Back inside her room, Yuuki began to rummage for her sketch pad.

Her father had said that art was a waste of time; she had been raised to agree with him but did it anyway – a sort of youthful act of rebellion.

According to her family, sketching was not a talent; it was a waste of a good mind. You got dumber as you drew. That was the theory.

Yuuki flipped the pad open and drew the view she had seen from beneath the oak tree. After one hour it was complete and she left it on her bed to set.

Her stomach rumbled, Yuuki didn't want to leave her room in case she disturbed anyone, she already felt like an invasion.

Her stomach did it again. The girl opened her door and ventured into the hall way. She made her way down it only to find a private sitting room that lead onto a massive swimming pool.

In the opposite direction was the foyer.

Yuuki's cast made little tapping noises on the tiled floor and she wished it had a mute button.

Finally she found the kitchen, there was a young woman inside dressed in green.

Her hair was black but it waved unlike that of her brothers.

"Good morning" she said cheerily "You must be Kyoya's friend, I'm Fuyumi his sister"

Yuuki bowed slightly "Good morning. Thank you for having me stay"

"Oh, don't thank me. I don't live here" Fuyumi said "I'm just visiting with my husband" she was always smiling "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I bit" Yuuki hobbled over to the girl.

"What do you want?"

"Whatever is easiest"

"That's not very helpful" Fuyumi said with a smile

Yuuki leant against the kitchen counter. The room was huge with huge windows and appliances that looked like they shouldn't have been invented yet. Even so, there were vintage touches here and there that made it less of a show room and more of a home.

Kyoya's sister began cutting some fruit and asked Yuuki to help.

After a minute of silence they began talking and although Yuuki was shy around people she didn't know, the pair were soon deep in conversation.

"Looks like you'll never leave now" a man walked into the kitchen groggily and pulled open the fridge.

He had glasses on and a haircut like Mori's. The eldest Ootori left the room with a bowl of cereal.

"They only eat together on weekday mornings" Fuyumi said with a wistful grin "all because the weekend is the only time they can sleep as late as they want and not get ratted on for being lazy"

"And I thought I had slept late" Yuuki mumbled

Fuyumi smiled, or maybe it was that she hadn't stopped smiling, Yuuki couldn't really tell.

-

At midday, Fuyumi decided it was time to wake Kyoya up, Yuuki didn't like the idea but the other girl assured her that it would be fun. She led her new friend through the house and through a door at the end of one of the many corridors.

At first Yuuki thought it was a lounge, there were two long white couches and an exceptionally large television in the room alongside a lengthy dresser. The whole far wall was glass.

To the left there was a set of stairs that led up to another room that opened above the void of the lower level.

Fuyumi waited patiently while Yuuki got up the stairs as silently as she could.

The second level was composed of one exceptionally large bed and a sleeping form within it.

Yuuki stared at the two storied room in amazement, the whole bedroom was three times as big as hers at home.

Kyoya's glasses sat on the bedside table and his dark hair was the only visible part of him.

Fuyumi clapped once and then sat next to her brother's shoulder. Yuuki stayed at the top of the stairs.

"Wake up little brother. The day is half over" Kyoya's sister cooed mischievously

A low growl emitted from under the covers.

"Your guest has been up since seven thirty" she continued "and you weren't there to entertain her"

Fuyumi pulled the cover down a bit and her brother turned to glare at her.

"Low blood pressure demon lord" she hissed in retaliation "someone's not a morning person"

"Then don't wake me while its morning" was the groggy reply

"It's not morning Kyoya" Fuyumi ushered Yuuki over.

The girl made her way to her new friend's side unsurely. She felt like she was invading a private moment and wanted to give the sibling pair some space.

"Come on Kyoya, don't you want to go out someplace today?"

The man finally sat up, he was grumpy. He turned his gaze on his sister, she didn't flinch – obviously she had been exposed to the morning monster before. When Kyoya looked at Yuuki, his expression softened for a moment before he fell back down onto his pillows.

His eyes without the protection of glasses were grey like an approaching storm.

"You are the worst sister in the world" he hissed

"Love you too" Fuyumi put her brother's glasses on his chest and stood up.

Kyoya was wearing a black flannel, buttoned up against the cold. Even so, Yuuki was uncomfortable seeing anyone in their pyjamas, even her own brother.

"Okay. Fine. I'm awake" Kyoya swung his legs over the side of the bed and caught his glasses as they fell from their sitting place.

His sister clapped in victory and skipped down the stairs without warning.

Yuuki watched her leave before turning back to the victim "I'm sorry...she dragged me here"

"How early did you wake up? I thought you were going to sleep in" he was still grumpy

"I did" she began

"What time"

"Seven thirty"

"And you feel sorry for my biological children" he muttered before stumbling sleepily through a door across from the stairs, presumably the bathroom.

Yuuki waited on the bottom story for him. When Kyoya emerged, fully dressed and untousled he made a comment about the lack of sling on his friends arm.

"It's not really sore"

"Told you"

"Yeah, yeah whatever"

Kyoya smiled and pushed his glasses up "Don't get your hopes up about the cast though"

Yuuki scowled at him "Wasn't planning on it"

"Well" he said exhaling "the only thing planned for today is homework"

The girl made a face

"You need help?"

Yuuki headed for the door, Kyoya followed "Will that profit you?"

"I never do anything unless it profits me"

Even as he said it, Yuuki knew it was just a masquerade. Kyoya was compassionate deep down, whether he realised it or not.

-

An hour later the pair were around the table on the first story of Kyoya's bedroom pouring over a maths text book.

"I don't get it" Yuuki threw her pen down and sighed "will you ever use trigonometry again? It's not exactly dinner conversation"

"Focus Yuuki" Kyoya turned back a page in the text book "what don't you understand?"

"Which formula to use"

"SOHCAHTOA"

Yuuki stared at her friend as if he had spoken in gibberish.

He laughed "S-OH, C-AH, T-OA"

"Oh, I thought you were talking about Sakatah's just then"

"You could learn it Some Old Hags Cant Always Hide Their Old Age"

The girl laughed "Who taught you that?"

"Math teacher"

"Was he...flamboyant?"

"Very"

They both smiled and turned back to their studies.

Before five they had both discovered that Yuuki was good at philosophy, psychology and languages.

"I think we both now know that you don't suck at everything" Kyoya closed his book  
Yuuki leaned back, she desperately wanted to bend her left leg "I think we both know that could speak other languages before"

"Which is a talent"

"Which is a learnt ability. It's not a talent"

"Enough philosophy"

Yuuki stared at him but couldn't catch his eye; the light was shining awkwardly in his glasses.

Kyoya sighed "You don't see yourself like others do, you have potential and yet you blocked it off"

"Let me guess, I'm unique" she replied sarcastically

"Just like everybody else"

"Mmm"

"You'll never take over the family business with that attitude"

Yuuki sat up "I was disowned, remember?"

"Not yet"

"Do I want the business?"

"Do you?"

The girl hopped to her feet and then collapsed on the couch "I don't know. I have no idea about business, I would have to hire a manager or sell it. I'm pretty sure that the Cunxin Company isn't actually run by the Cunxin's. My father is too busy breeding horses"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up characteristically "Your family breeds horses?"

"We own the stud from which the Japanese businessmen buy their race horses"

This was news to the Ootori who absorbed the information "You could sell the agricultural business and then keep the stud. I'm sure you'd be good at that"

"Who could I sell it to?"

"My father was very interested when I told him about yesterday's events"

Yuuki snapped to attention "So that's why I'm here? So you can blackmail my father into selling his business?"

"No"

"Yes"

The girl stood up and stormed as fast as she could, which wasn't very, towards the door.

"Where are you going Yuuki?"

She paused and turned to face him "You were using me to get my business?"

"No, I said I wasn't. You got to stay here because my father has begun to finally respect my judgement"

"And my money"

"Don't say it like that" they were both getting angry

Yuuki leaned against the doorway "The Ootori group is always seeking to expand its empire right? Well, buy an international agricultural firm and you've expanded all around the world"

"Yes, but..."

"And you would do that by blackmailing someone"

Kyoya didn't stand up "I had no intention of buying your family business Yuuki. A few years ago I bought my family business from a French buyer and gave it back to my father. We were in a tight spot. Since then, that company has not liked the Ootori group at all and they are not enemies anyone wants. I was going to suggest you sell it to them."

Yuuki paused for a moment "So you're going to use me to heal an old business relationship"

There was a long pause "Jehosephat! You bought your father's business?"

What Kyoya had said finally sunk in.

He nodded

"Why?"

"Like I said, we were in a bad spot. I am the third son and there was no way I would ever inherit the business unless I proved myself. So, I bought the business before the French could and signed all managing rights over to him"

"How did you afford that?"

"You have your own account right?"

"Yes"

"Well, I have my own. Like I said, I don't do anything for anything less than profit. I wasn't using you Yuuki, just trying to get you out of a bad spot yourself"

The girl looked at the floor "I'm sorry"

Kyoya stood up and walked over to her. He was much taller than she was and Yuuki wouldn't meet his gaze.

He slid his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to stare at his "Me too"

Yuuki got a fright at his touch; she didn't know what to do with it. Anything intimate, even hugging a relative, was uncommon ground to her. Her reaction was to move her head out of his hand and bow slightly before hobbling down to her room.

-

Yuuki sat on her bed in as cross legged manner as her cast would allow. She thought about Zero.

She wondered where he was. If her father had sold him. Put him down.

Her eyes flew open at that thought.

The girl stumbled across her room to the desk and pulled a mobile out of her laptop case. She dialled urgently and waited as the phone rang.

"_Hello?_"

It was her brother.

"Mako?"

"_Yuuki?"_

"Yes"

"_Why are you calling?"_

"I want to know what happened to Zero"

"_Yuuki..."_

"Please Mako. I know you never liked me, but you owe me as much as a brother"

"_I owe you nothing"_

There was silence as neither of them spoke. Yuuki bit her lip.

"_Wait a minute"_

"Okay"

A few seconds later, _"Alright"_

"Please tell me what's going on"

"_Father cant disown you, it seems there is discrepancy within the council, apparently you dishonouring us weren't good enough of a reason. One of the powerful families won't allow it."_

"I didn't mean to fall off"

"_I know"_

"What's happened to Zero?"

"_Father is selling him. To the highest bidder. The auction is going to take place in the last week of winter"_

Yuuki couldn't think of anything to say for a moment, she just nodded slowly in understanding

"I didn't...it was an accident"

"_I know. I'm sorry Yuuki."_ He didn't sound it. "_I have to go_"

He hung up and Yuuki leaned against her desk.

-

There was a line of moisture down her face, a tear got caught in her lips. When she inhaled her breath shook. The girls hands gently shut the mobile and cradled it in her hands.

Five minutes later, it rang.

-

"Hello?"

"_Yuuki"_

"Mako?"

"_Say goodbye"_

"Wha..."

There was a snuffling noise on the other end of the line.

"Zero?"

The snuffling got louder.

"Hey boy"

A snort. Yuuki could picture his ears flicking curiously towards the phone, his proud neck arched in surprise.

The girl laughed monosyllabically "Hey there handsome boy"

"Be good hey?" she would never ride him again.

She didn't know how long it would be before she ever rode again

"You behave. I'll see you in London 2012, on the t.v. You better win gold for us"

She began to leak quiet, gentle tears.

Her sprit pouring out and splattering on the floor. "Goodbye boy"

There was a curious nickering on the other end of the phone

"Goodbye Zero"

There was a short pause as her brother reclaimed the phone _"Goodbye Yuuki" _

_-_

And then nothing except a continuous beeping.

Like a heart monitor, only, without a heart.

-

.....

_Reviews much appreciated._


	8. Chapter 7

**-**

**Chapter 7**

-

Yuuki sat on the floor against her bed and toyed her phone listlessly between her hands.

Her shoulder ached softly.

It had been two hours since she had called her brother and all she had done was sit at the base of her bed and stare at a painting on the wall.

There was a soft knock on the door.

Kyoya stuck his head in "Dinner's ready"

Yuuki looked at him and sniffed once

"Do you have a cold?" he asked "your eyes are puffy"

The girl laughed quietly "Yeah, I'm not feeling very well"

"There are a few doctors in the house, if you need one..."

"No, I think I'll just go to bed. Send my apologies to your family. I'm sorry to ask you to do that"

"There's been worse" he knelt in front of his friend and caught her phone in mid air.

Yuuki reached for it but Kyoya merely sat back, beyond her reach; he knew she couldn't move on the floor very fast in a cast.

He pressed a few buttons and watched the screen while the girl angled herself to grab her property back. As she went to do so, he moved again.

Yuuki struggled to her feet and Kyoya stayed down. She couldn't bend.

"Give it back please"

He had overestimated her height and in a second she had reached down and caught her phone. The screen was blank.

"What did you do?" she asked, slightly annoyed

Kyoya stood up "You're very bad at lying"

"I don't know what you mean"

"Yes you do"

Yuuki put her phone away and eyed Kyoya. He could have just asked what was wrong.

The door clicked shut behind the youngest Ootori.

The girl pulled her phone out curiously; there was nothing different except a few new contacts in her friends list.

-

The next morning Yuuki woke up at nine.

She hadn't fallen asleep till the early hours of the morning. She had thought long and deep about her phone call and exhausted herself with emotion.

The girl sat on her bed and stared down at the cast. She sighed and got dressed.

A pair of jodhpurs fell to the floor as she tugged her clothes out. White jodhpurs with _XXIX Olympiad_ stitched into them.

Yuuki picked them up and ran her thumb over the markings. In the fabric near the ankle a single dark hair was lodged.

The girl pulled it out and rummaged in her bedside table for a small navy box. She opened it and put the hair on top of the medal and closed it without a word.

Yuuki had come to terms with losing her horse. She wouldn't linger over the loss of something like she had over her mother.

It still hurt.

Ached.

There was a knock on the door and two red heads burst into the room.

"Yuuki" Hikaru and Kouru said in unison "Tamaki said to fetch you and bring you to the car"

The girl stared blankly at the pair "Um...okay?"

Before Yuuki could walk to the door, the twins had lifted her by each arm and carried her through the door, her feet centimetres off the ground.

"Captive taken" one of them said, Yuuki guessed it was Hikaru.

Yuuki squirmed in their grasp "I can walk!"

"Not well" one of them said, putting his face close to hers.

"Hikaru..."

"Am I?"

"Kouru?"

"Really?"

"Damn it! Put me down!"

There was a long black limo outside; Tamaki was watching from its unwound window "Very good, take her away"

"Take me where?" Yuuki asked the twins as Tamaki pulled away and another limo appeared suddenly

The redheads looked at each other mischievously "You'll see"

They opened the door and dropped the girl in. A moment later it was re-opened to reveal Mori carrying a still half-asleep Kyoya, his arms dangling on the tall man's shoulders and his feet dragging on the ground. He was dropped in the car and then the twins got in on the seats facing backwards.

Kyoya sat up and glared groggily, Hikaru and Kouru started and moved closer together.

"Not again you mongrels" he hissed "Remember what happened last time when you decided to play your erroneous manners?"

The twins regrouped and pulled together "Yes, you went on a date with Haruhi"

"I was dragged, asleep, to a commoner's shopping centre"

"And met Haruhi" one of them said

The other finished the sentence "Even so, you couldn't hold onto her, she's Tamaki's girl now"

Kyoya glared daggers at the pair, their retaliation collapsed.

Yuuki just stared out the window as the car pulled out of the Ootori state.

They had forgotten her crutches.

Half an hour later the cars stopped.

Hikaru, Kouru and Kyoya piled out of the car while Yuuki stumbled onto the gravel road. She hopped over to the nearest bench and sat down again. They were at a deserted picnic site.

Tamaki leapt from his car and spread his arms "Isn't it beautiful!"

Haruhi followed after him "What?"

"You don't see it?"

"No"

The prince pointed to the mountain that the picnic area looked at "The first snow of the year"

"You dragged us...all the way here" Haruhi sounded annoyed "...to see a mountain"

"To see the snow! We're going to do what commoners do to see a good view; we're going to hike to the vantage point"

In that moment, Yuuki seriously considered the idea that Tamaki had no brain.

"Um, question" she brought the excited blonde's attention to her and she pointed to her leg.

Tamaki put his forefinger and thumb over his chin and stared at the cast "You have crutches don't you"

"You're an idiot" Kyoya said, still annoyed

Hunny was watching from his lofty place on Mori's shoulders "Well, Yuuki-Chan can take the car into town and go shopping" his voice was high and his eyes wide.

"What town?" Hikaru and Kouru said in unison "There was no town coming in"

"Oh" Hunny said "I must have imagined it"

"Must have" Kyoya said flatly

Yuuki drummed her fingernails on the table top "It's okay. You go hiking; I can sit here and think about stuff"

"What stuff?" Hikaru, or Kouru, said

The girl smiled "Life the universe and everything"

"When you come up with an answer to that question, let us know" Haruhi wasn't impressed either

Kyoya pitched an answer "Forty two"

Yuuki stifled a laugh

Haruhi looked confused "What?"

"The answer" Ootori began "to live, the universe and everything is forty two"

"Again, what?" Tamaki questioned

Kyoya pushed his glasses up "That's it. That's all there is."

Yuuki finally laughed "I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe"

The man smiled at her "I'll stay with Yuuki. I'm not overly fond of hiking in the cold"

Twenty minutes later, the group had finally set off leaving just Kyoya and Yuuki at the picnic site. They sat on opposite sides of the table and didn't speak for a long while.

"I didn't know you were a hitchhiker?" Yuuki broke the stillness

Kyoya grinned a ghost "When I was little I thought everyone needed a guide to the galaxy, hitchhiking was the only five part trilogy and it confused me immensely"

"The five part trilogy or the hitchhiking"

"Both"

"I read it because I wanted to be a spaceman"

"Really?"

"No" she threw a piece of paint she had peeled from the table at him

Kyoya leaned back, the mountain behind him "Tamaki does this sort of think allot. I'm sorry"

"I don't mind"

"Yes you do"

Yuuki looked at her hands "Okay, yes I do, but not as much as you think"

Kyoya raised an eyebrow

"Okay, maybe it is as much as you think. But it's fine"

Her friend went to say something to oppose the latter part of her statement but she spoke over him

"Stop reading my mind. It's creepy"

"Stop lying, it's evil"

"You're evil then"

"I resent that"

"You're in business management"

"Point taken" Kyoya stared curiously at Yuuki, her picking up on him reading her so quickly meant that she could read him to. It made him uneasy.

There was a long silence again, not an uncomfortable one. Just one of the inspired sort.

"What did you do with my phone last night?" Yuuki asked

Kyoya pushed his glasses up, creating a glare over his eyes "I added some new contacts"

The girl leaned back "Really?" she said, disbelievingly "You did something else to"

The man didn't say anything, he just stared across the table silently "Are you cold?"

Yuuki was wearing jeans, one shoe and a white t-shirt under her jacket. She had figured she wouldn't need more for a day indoors. "I'm fine"

The wind was up that day. It lifted her hair and washed it across her face. The girl ran a hand through it and swept it out of the way before burying her phalange's into her jacket again.

Kyoya petted his pockets and discovered that he actually had his phone and wallet this kidnapping.

"Let's go" he flipped his phone out and dialled his driver "I want to show you something"

"For your own personal profit?"

"For profit" he said smugly as the ringing began.

Half an hour later a black Mercedes pulled into the car park.

"Should we leave a note?" Yuuki asked as Kyoya helped her up

"No" he growled, annoyed at having been brought to begin with

The girl hopped a few steps and attained balance "Okay"

The car was very warm. The driver knew what he was doing.

They drove upwards along winding roads until they reached a peak.

It looked over the mountain they had seen from the picnic area.

"Is this?" Yuuki stared out the window "...where the trail leads?"

Kyoya grinned haughtily and opened her door.

Yuuki got out, it was windy. Twenty meters in front of them was a cafe.

"Convenient" the girl said, eyeing it

Kyoya walked ahead of her, laughing inside at how Tamaki would kick himself when he arrived.

Inside the cafe was the perfect temperature. The far wall was made completely of glass and ran right to the edge of the cliff face it was situated on.

Yuuki walked right up to it and put her fingers on the glass, looking straight ahead and feeling the tingles in her feet at the drop so close below them.

"How do you know about this place? Isn't it a little...common for you?" Kyoya had appeared at her side and she had taken the opportunity to ask

He pushed his glasses up "My aunt had a fetish for views and coffee. She found commoners interesting"

"Do you find them interesting?"

"In a way"

Yuuki stepped back from the glass as a wind gust blew a bunch of leaves against it, making an awful screeching sound that could have come from the chasm below them.

Her leg with the cast though, remained dutifully where she had left it.

"Are you hungry?" Kyoya asked, walking off "I'm hungry"

The girl was getting annoyed at how her friend kept walking off when she didn't have the ability to keep up.

Oh what she would do for a good pair of legs again.

He turned around and smiled "Sit down"

Something about his voice said that his words were more of a command than a suggestion. Yuuki adhered anyway.

Kyoya returned with a box of sushi and a green tube. Yuuki picked the latter up and read the label.

"What's...wasabi?"

"You're Japanese and you have the gall to ask what wasabi is?"

"I'm half Japanese and we never really ate Japanese at home. It was very, western; everyone was English at heart"

"Its spicy" he tried to compare it to something English "Like...hot mustard"

"Ha" she put it down "hot and sushi together?"

"More...spicy"

"You said it was hot?"

"It's good alright, just eat"

Tamaki had dropped a line that Kyoya enjoyed spicy foods. It didn't comply with his not-so-intellectual dress sense and she wasn't afraid to say so.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" he looked at himself

Yuuki laughed "I don't know, it's just not..."

"Yeah, no. I understand"

"Really?"

"No" Kyoya smiled, he liked their conversations, they were never boring to say the least. Yuuki had a way of changing a subject rather dramatically.

He drank some of the tea that was brought to them "So, are you going to try wasabi?"

Yuuki made a cautionary face and tried some.

After a few seconds she had to have a drink and had tears forming in her eyes

"You liked it?" Kyoya said, grinning smugly

"I would have...if it wasn't taking chunks of my throat along with it down my oesophagus"

He laughed.

Defiantly not boring "Say something" he wanted to test his new theory out, on how the girl across from him could make a simple statement the most amusing discussion thread ever.

"Why?"

"Just say the first thing that comes to your mind right now"

"Why?"

"Seriously? That's the first thing you thought?"

"Wouldn't you?" she paused "What's the first word that comes to your head right now?"

There was a short silence, the kind that happens when someone asks you what you were thinking and you forget.

And then, finally, "Banana"

Yuuki raised an eyebrow and shook her head "The wonders of your mind..."

"It's more interesting than 'why?'"

"Since when has a question ever been erroneous?"

"Since I asked"

"Oh that's right, you royal shadow king...cool...type...bastard..."

Kyoya drank some tea "That was the worst comeback ever"

Yuuki dropped her head to the table in defeat "I know"

"Favourite song?"

"What is this?" she said, lifting her head to look at him "Twenty questions?"

Kyoya frowned, every time she said something, she said it with sincerity and yet...he couldn't work her out. To complex.

She was just wondering why he was so interested.

"I guess so"

"Um...it changes. Right now its Gary Jules' Mad world. If you'd asked me yesterday I would have said Clair De Lune by Debussy. You?"

Debussy and Gary Jules...odd mix "I'd have to say Rossini's Overture and Canon in D"

"Pachelbel?"

"You know him?"

"I had to sit that song for an examination"

"Piano?"

Yuuki made a face, remembering a time in her life she would rather forget "My turn. What's your favourite colour?"

"Uh..." she had caught him out. He didn't know what his favourite colour was "Blue"

"Is that because you're wearing a blue shirt?" she said innocently

Damn it, "Yes"

-

Yuuki said nothing about Zero, thought it was a constant ache. She was thinking about him and her somewhat distracted nature could have hinted to the fact that her emotions weren't exactly sunshine and diamond drops at present.

None-the-less, Kyoya had a good knack for getting her mind off things. It was as if he was steering away from anything related to the events of the past week and more towards the events of her.

Yuuki felt slightly exposed, she couldn't read him. It was very annoying. Out of all the people in the room, he was the one with the most open conjecture, and yet she could not read him.

Kyoya felt the same towards her and they continued their twenty questions, which peaked twenty quickly and then developed into a conversation about politics, philosophy or physics. The latter of which died quickly because the girl had idea whatsoever about that category. Kyoya tried to explain but failed miserably.

The confusing game of reading a book in another language went on, much to the enjoyment of the pair.

-

This probing continued for two more hours without pause until Tamaki and his band of now-not-so-merry hikers walked into the cafe and stared at surprise at the pair staring at each other across the table, not speaking.

In truth, they were testing the statement 'the eye is the window to the soul but weren't getting any answers. Kyoya's glasses were a good deterrent and he wasn't letting anyone see into him that easily and hers were so deep and black that you could get lost in them without realising it and never find the answer you were looking for.

There was nothing intimate about their searching, just curiosity. They were to each other a confusing ball of string that no one had ever been able to work out.

-

"What are you doing?" Tamaki broke the trance

Kyoya looked at him, annoyed and decided to quote the girl's favourite book "I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow"

Yuuki didn't blush; she knew he meant nothing by it other than the hunt for his own intellectual monarchy.

"So" Haruhi's voice broke the trance "when are we to wish you joy?"

She looked annoyed and tired and slightly mischievous; she had obviously read _Pride and Prejudice_.

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love and from love to matrimony in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy"

Tamaki gaped, not understanding "I don't get it"

"I do, but at the same time...me thinks not" Yuuki said, leaning back in her chair and staring curiously at Kyoya.

"Let go" he said, pulling his phone out again

"But we just got here!" Tamaki complained

"And we got her two hours ago"

It finally hit the blonde that the pair had arrived long before he and his band had "How?"

"We drove" Yuuki said, smiling smugly

Haruhi glared at Tamaki "We could have driven?"

The other girl nodded as she was dragged out the door by an impatient man, eager to escape before bedlam erupted.

-

In the car Kyoya turned to Yuuki with one final question.

"I understand why you know how to speak English, but German?"

She turned to him in her seat "You speak both, right?"

"Yes" he looked thoughtful "I guess I do"

There was a comfortable silence before he spoke again "You're multilingual, Japanese, English and German. Doesn't that mean you're good at something?"

Yuuki paused before answering and couldn't come up with an answer.

Kyoya had pointed out her knack at psychology, philosophy and now languages.

"Maybe I should work for the UN" she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye

"It's quite the possibility" He leaned back against the seat

"Quite"

For once in her life, Yuuki didn't feel worthless to the world.

Kyoya glanced at her "Your coming to dinner tonight right? My father wants to meet you"

"As long as there's no wasabi"

He smiled a ghost and shut his eyes as the car rolled down the hills, back towards home.

-----

_You know the drill. Review. _


	9. Chapter 8

AUTHORS NOTE: I do apologise for forgetting a question mark in the last chapter...and for all the other grammatical errors. I'm so sorry if they annoy you, I'm working on it.

-

**Chapter 8**

-

A month and a bit passed and winter hit hard. Yuuki and Kyoya got close over the weeks, spending allot of time together – even if it was time just spent not talking and just being. Yuuki got her cast off and a walking brace applied, which meant she could actually move without crutches but was still painfully slow. She got on well with the Ootori family who seemed to barely notice her presence in their house, their lives were so preoccupied that not much attention was given to the strange girl who had moved in with them. Yuuki discovered allot about Kyoya.

His resentment about being the third son, his striving to become the first son in intellect, his non-relationship with his family and finally his cold demeanour actually having a warm core. And his unusual friendship with Tamaki that seemed to explode every they saw each other, in a good way. Like fireworks going off, no one knew how they worked but everyone appreciated the reaction all the same. They were like magnets, opposites that couldn't help but be friends with each other.

As much as they knew about the other, Yuuki and Kyoya were still half strangers. There was a barrier. A loss almost. And both felt it but didn't know how to get rid of it. They didn't know how to tear down their own walls and wouldn't allow the other to do it for them. Yuuki had also unofficially joined the host club. Since she had nothing else to do now, she spent much of her time trying to sew and getting stabbed in the fingers making outrageous cosplay costumes and pouring over the studies she never understood before.

One bitterly cold afternoon Kyoya rolled onto his stomach. The pair was on the floor looking at the ceiling because Yuuki had spotted a spider web and become besotted with it.

"We have a million things to do before our exams and a thousand things to do for the host club and yet you prefer to spend the afternoon lying on the floor, studying spider's webs"

"You were doing it to, but it seems you're more taken with the carpet now"

"Your distractions are like the pox. Way to contagious"

Yuuki sat up "I bow to my friend in all superior matters regarding the pox. But you have a point."

Kyoya always had a point. Conniving know it all. The girl resumed her studies on cellular anatomy and Kyoya opened his laptop and began tapping away.

Yuuki was learning, and fast. She was coming third in her social sciences class and second in English.

Secretly, it was all in the hope of getting Zero back, proving to her father that she wasn't as worthless as he thought. She could never take over a business, she didn't have that mind, but politics on the other hand, she could hold her ground in. And that must be worth something. She missed her horse but never complained. Yuuki didn't want someone else's pity. No one besides her knew of the auction.

"What are you doing?" cellular anatomy wasn't interesting enough

Kyoya pushed his glasses up "Someone has to manage the host club"

"As often as you do?"

"It's good practice" he didn't say any more. But Yuuki understood. She had a strong suspicion that Kyoya's father would hand over the company to the third son, he had displayed remarkable management abilities and their business had drawn management and medicine together after all.

Yuuki frowned "You said it would be good practice for me, socially, but I'm petrified that all the girls will kill me from being around you"

"They know there's nothing there"

The girl paused, not knowing how to respond to that "All the same. You don't like ninety-nine percent of them and the ten percent left over are hardly tolerable by your standards"

"How would you know that?"

"You change. Your real happy face is much more sincere than your hosting happy face"

Short silence "Hosting isn't why I'm in the club" and everyone knew it.

"You enjoy doing the arrangement stuff?" Yuuki picked at a piece of fluff on the carpet

Kyoya kept typing, smiling slightly "We're saving for the biggest event of the season"

"Hmm?"

"Yule ball" he didn't elaborate like he had to with the other host members, Yuuki understood Kyoya's mannerisms. He would do things his way in the end and no amount of explaining things would alter that.

She clicked her pen "Couldn't you call it a Christmas ball instead?"

Kyoya stopped typing "It's about appealing to clients"

"Do I have to buy a dress?"

"Do you want to go?" he asked, sceptically

"Will there be chandeliers?"

"Yes"

Yuuki grinned, yes she wanted to go.

She was a girl after all.

-

The weeks leading up to Christmas break were busy for the host club. Girls seeking entertainment and an escape from the cold flocked to the third music room. Yuuki sat at a table near the window and did her homework while the boys and disguised girl did their duties. The riding school had approached her a few times about taking more classes but she replied that the weather was getting to bad and they really needed an indoor area. The latter was built and Yuuki had no choice but to take one lesson a week, every moment of it reminding her of what she couldn't do and probably wouldn't again. On these days, Kyoya would finish his duties and wait outside the stable for Yuuki.

"Do you like still being at the stable?" he would ask, every day

"I do"

"Why?"

"It fits"

"Fits what?"

"Me"

Kyoya could never work this out. The stable was a place that obviously caused her pain, even though she was good at hiding it. Yet, the organisation and bustle of the place seemed to put her at ease, the energy and confusion didn't faze her.

Yuuki sat in the car on the way home and stared out the window. It was snowing.

"Why do you get so easily distracted by such little things?" Kyoya asked from his seat

"Because they make some things worthwhile" she opened her window a bit and stuck her hand out, catching a flake as they drove past.

She held her palm out to Kyoya "Look at the detailing"

The snowflake was made up of a million tiny threads of ice, all woven together to form a masterpiece. "Not even Salvador Dali could made something as abstract and beautiful as that"

Kyoya stared at the ice as it melted in the girl's palm "Salvador Dali's artwork will last many lifetimes"

"So will this moment" she said softly, and he knew it was true.

They had both learnt something big from a few seconds in time. Life is a thread, it breaks or it doesn't and in the end, it melts away. They were both threads under allot of pressure, watching life change around them and striving for the impossible.

"You don't realise how unfeasible most of your dreams are" Yuuki said to Kyoya "which is why you will do them anyway, before you grow up and allow them to melt away. They are beautiful and timeless just as they are, when you them they always will be, just to you and those they impact; even if they fade through history"

"If only you would say that to yourself"

"I'm different, my dreams melted away a long time ago" Yuuki ran her forefinger through the puddle in her palm

Kyoya looked out the window "What does that mean?"

It was rare that they discussed things so deeply, they both wanted to defend themselves and did so by never venturing forth

"Nothing" Yuuki looked at the man and then back out the window "Winter break in two days, how do you think your exams went?"

And that was that.

Two days later a huge tree was delivered to the Ootori estate. Christmas was in three weeks.

The whole host club turned up and told the workers that they would carry it into the house and decorate it themselves. Tamaki insisted that they do commoners work, he found it enthralling.

Yuuki stood in the spacious living room while Tamaki tried to direct the tree through the doorway.

"You could just use the sliding door around the side? It's wide enough and you won't get pine needles on the floor..." she suggested, staring at the mess of green that had already formed.

Everyone looked at her, annoyed that she hadn't mentioned it before. Kyoya laughed. Half an hour later the tree was actually up. It stood a good three times taller than Yuuki was and still came short of the ceiling.

"How do you get a star up there?" Haruhi asked, obviously not impressed by the enormous foliage now in the Ootori lounge room.

"Ladder" Kyoya said; his calculating voice back, clipboard in hand – preparing for the ball.

Hunny had already shrouded himself and the top half of Mori in tinsel and Christmas trinkets. Yuuki pulled a crystal ornament from a box full of decorations "Swarovski"

It was the shape of a snowflake, one that wouldn't melt. Tamaki was gushing about the Yule ball that was just three days away and was dancing enthusiastically around the room with Haruhi and broke the girl's admiration of the object. She slid it onto a branch around head height. Her head height. Which was everyone except Haruhi's and Hunny's shoulder height. She caught Kyoya's eye as she did so and even after she had moved he continued to stare at the snowflake. There were thirty more like it, all of which ended up on the tree besides sparrows made of frosted glass, beads from Thailand, silver and gold thread from Egypt, red silk from India, frosted apples from Greece, trinkets from France and bells from Notre Dame. There were also horses, leaping alongside deer up the tree. They were pulling carriages made of mahogany and were wearing bridles of red leather, decorated with little silver bells.

Halfway through decorating, the host club collapsed in front of the fire and roasted chestnuts, Yuuki and Hunny kept getting a fright each time one exploded.

"I'll stick to marshmallows" Hunny said after eating the chestnut that near gave him a heart attack.

Everyone laughed.

Tamaki stared at the tree from where he sat "This is fun. I've never decorated a tree before"

"Never?" Haruhi stared at him from where she sat.

"Never"

Everyone else in the room also claimed to have never done it. They had all had people do it for them.

"What about you, Yuuki?" Tamaki turned to her "Have you ever decorated a Christmas tree?"

She nodded "Yes, I can't remember much of it though; we stopped doing it when I was six"

"Why?"

"My mom went away" no one except Kyoya knew about her mother.

"You didn't do it the next year?"

"She's always away at Christmas" Yuuki said with no emotion. Her mother had been away for birthdays, New Years, Easter, mother's day, and every other day in-between "But we always had a really good tree anyway"

The star was the crowning glory of the tree. It had been made in Japan by a high class designer especially for the Ootori family. It was perfectly symmetrical with five even points made with gold. The fabric pulled over it was made of cream silk with a web of gold and red tattooed across it.

Haruhi held it in her hands "It's beautiful"

Yuuki looked over her shoulder "Mmmm"

"Girls" Hikaru and Kouru said with a huff

"Who's going to put it up?" Hunny said with a huge grin. He and Mori had been decorating the top of the tree; they were both as covered in ornaments as the tree was.

Tamaki stepped forward and took the star and gave it to Kyoya loyally "It's your tree"

The man pushed his glasses up and took the star before scaling the ladder on the wall behind the tree. No one in his family was home to put up the tree, they never had been. Servants had done it every year. He wished that his father could see him, putting the crowning glory onto allot of hard work. Yuuki watched from below as he set the object in place and slid down the ladder, closing it when he reached the bottom. The group stood and stared at the tree. There was nothing like spending hours with friends, doing nothing but play with trinkets, wrap people in tinsel and drink allot of tea. Yuuki had been attacked by the twins, bearing gold glitter and had, like most of the others, become covered in the only art supply that took months to get off. She had got her revenge with fake apples. Haruhi was sitting on a cardboard box. It had the word '_Lights'_ on it.

"Aren't you supposed to put these on first?" she called out, getting everyone's attention.

Everyone turned; their faces aghast. Tamaki went insane. In the end, they put the lights on over the top of all the other decorations. Unconventional, but it worked.

Later that evening, after the whole house was asleep, Yuuki crept into the lounge room and sat in front of the tree. Its lights flashed from white to gold and illuminated the room. There was light and beauty and everything seemed right. She had good friends that made her laugh. An almost best friend who's favourite game was working her out. A nice house to live in where people accepted her and grades that were rising constantly. Everything was right. It was as it should be. Everything except the constant struggle to walk, the reminder of how it happened and the reality of its outcome. She pushed the thoughts aside and dwelled on the Yule Ball. She had a dress, many thanks to Hikaru and Kouru's mother's designs and a single ballet flat that went with them. No heels would ever work with a walking brace. She reminded herself of what she had just tried to forget again. Yuuki sighed and slid her arms into the holes of the other, emperor style and crossed her right leg under her. The girl could see the stars outside.

Her silver tear glistened in the light. Her first Christmas without that which she loved most was painfully like her first Christmas without her mother. No. It wasn't just like that Christmas. It was exactly the same. Yuuki's rough edges became raw again, opening silently in the secret places within her. Ripping apart the scar tissue and letting her bleed. The girl tried to patch herself up, but knew no amount of needlework would fix her yet. No siege was large enough to tear down the walls she had built up since the day the truck didn't stop.

"I wish you were here." She whispered into the dark "I wish I wasn't forgetting what shade of brown your hair was or what you smelled like. But most of all, I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I...I'm sorry I just watched"

Yuuki blinked. A flash of yellow took over the dark in the back of her eyes and focused as a set of headlights. The night was torn apart by the screaming of rubber on tar. The screaming. Her screaming. A blue jacket in the road, a body within it. Her mother looked at her and mouthed goodbye above the volume and smiled in decibels higher than any ear can hear.

-

"_Maybe tonight I'll ask the angels to give me wings so I can fly_

_So that I could finally say goodbye_

_Maybe tonight I'll give up everything_

_So that, even if just for a second, I could hold you one more time_

_You could sing for me one last time"_

_(Bethany Louise Music)_

-

_----------------------_

_You know the drill. Rate and review._


	10. Chapter 9

AUTHORS NOTE: It's time for the Yule Ball, so put a pretty dress on and make sure your heels are low enough for dancing.

Enjoy.

-

**Chapter 9**

-

_The morning before the Yule Ball_

_-_

Yuuki slept in late. For the first time in five years she had slept past nine. At ten she was supposed to be helping Kyoya at the school, preparing for that evening. The girl threw herself out of bed and scrambled to her closet, pulling on whatever she could find, hoping it didn't miss-match. Yuuki brushed her teeth quickly and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail before venturing sheepishly into the hall.

Kyoya was standing there, fully dressed and groomed.

"You slept in..." pause, he changed his statement "in...those...clothes?" he added uncertainly

Yuuki pulled her jacket on "The ruffled look is in, apparently"

"It's not that in" he handed her a juice box and ushered her to the door "Next time, put your clothes out the night before"

"Yes mom" it was snowing outside again

"How affectionate" Kyoya smiled maliciously as the driver pulled up in front of them.

Yuuki opened the car door and slid inside "Are we even allowed in the school during holidays?"

"Tamaki is the superintendent's son" he pulled out his laptop and began tapping away "Ouran seeks to keep its students happy at all times"

"That sounded very generic"

"I know, why do you think people buy so many tissues? Being generic works"

Yuuki smiled and stared out her window "It doesn't suit you"

"Being opinionated doesn't suit you"

"Well..." she thought of something to say in retaliation "green...doesn't suit you"

"Fail"

"Shut up"

It was Kyoya's turn to smile.

-

The pair arrived at the school and entered a huge 'foyer turned ball room' that would hold the evening's festivities. Only at Ouran was an entrance hall big enough to host a party in. Maybe it wasn't even an entrance hall, maybe it was just a massive space with a huge stair case at one end and a door at the other.

Tamaki was already there, standing on an elevated balcony that the stairs bent into.

"Don't break it!" he cried merrily to a crew of workers who were holding up a giant chandelier.

The group of men huffed as they heaved the huge piece of crystal into a holder on the ceiling. Electricians went wild. It was the first one up, there were four more to go. A truck pulled up outside with the words _Ouran Florist_ painted on the side. Kyoya disappeared from Yuuki's side and went to greet them pleasantly.

"Yuuki, can you go to the women's bathroom and make sure that it's ready" Tamaki called from the top of the staircase that they foyer wound up to.

"Um...alright?" Strange suggestion. Surely no one had used it in the last few days since holidays began.

The bathroom was long, with a white marble floor and walls painted with a pearly tone. The sinks were white, the cubicles were pale pink and Yuuki wondered why someone had put a huge bouquet of roses on each counter. It was just a bathroom, it's not like girls congregated there for private oestrogen meetings or anything...

She remerged to discover a scene she had already viewed that week. The host club, carrying a tree through a door, or trying to anyway.

"Side door!" she yelled at them and they looked annoyed again. Flashback much. They never learned.

Kyoya reappeared behind her "They never learn"

Yuuki ignored the fact that he had read her mind and turned to him "Question"

"Yes"

"Why is the ladies bathroom like a pink runway with sinks?"

He laughed "I'm really the wrong person to ask, there some places I have never been and some things that I don't have a say in"

"But Tamaki..."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow, hinting at the answer

"Oh..." Yuuki thought it through a moment "Oh! That's disgusting"

"No, that's Tamaki"

There was a silence as both of them contemplated this. Yuuki tilted her head to one side, her face written with realisation "Point"

Some workers began to attack the tree with decorations, blue and white ones – the main theme colours for the evening. Yuuki watched them and then went to stand below one of the ladders in order to pass various ornaments to the worker above her. Hunny and Mori had taken the liberty, again, to make themselves oversized decorations. More Hunny's idea than Mori's, but he didn't appear to mind. The twins tried the glitter trick again, only this time they didn't check to see if the lids were screwed on and two members of the host club got covered in a small tub of silver. Those two were Haruhi and Tamaki and they only minded for a second before getting their own revenge. Kyoya did his normal stand-to-the-side-with-a-clipboard thing, going through a checklist of things that had been done and things that needed to be done. When the tree was finished the twins decided to use the left over blue glitter on him. Much to the Ootori's annoyance. Yuuki sat on the stairs and laughed at the anger that seemed to frighten everyone else but her.

"Do you want to die?" he said smoothly

"To die" she leaned back "Would be an awfully big adventure"

"You're not peterpan"

"Darn it. And the oestrogen levels were such a dead giveaway too, why didn't I notice before?"

Kyoya softened and resumed his business.

-

_The afternoon before the Yule Ball_

-

The host club moved to the third music room to rest before the party.

"Good work, go team" Tamaki said groggily

"Did he just say 'go team'?" Haruhi asked in a monotone manner

Yuuki collapsed on a couch and crossed her right leg over the walking brace. She stretched and put her arms behind her head. Yuuki was the only one not trying to get glitter off various pieces of clothing, out of hair or off skin. Kyoya was still very displeased.

"I hate glitter" he said

Hunny gasped "Heresy!"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up and sighed. The twins high fived in victory.

"He should be tried for treason" Tamaki said, also offended

"Against who?" Haruhi enquired

"Against me! The Prince!" the blonde spread his arms out triumphantly

"This isn't a monarchy Tamaki" Yuuki said, staring at the ceiling "if anything it's an oligarchy" she paused "And if it was a monarchy Kyoya is shadow KING, you are the prince"

Tamaki's bubble burst and he disappeared to a corner.

"We don't get it" Hikaru and Kouru's voices rose above the ensuing, amused, silence.

Kyoya was impressed; he stared at the girl as she stared at Tamaki in the corner, a confused expression on her face. She didn't know how she had offended him. Yuuki looked at him, Kyoya couldn't read her expression. He shrugged and the girl sighed before resuming her original position.

An hour later the club began to get ready. Their outfits had been delivered. Yuuki's came in a white box with a red ribbon around it. She had ordered it from her favourite store in London.

"Can we see?" Hikaru and Kouru stood over her as she began to undo the ribbon.

Yuuki hugged the box to her chest "No" she said stubbornly "You'll see it later"

The girl took her item and disappeared into the preparation room. There, she shut the door behind her and put the box on a table in the far corner. She opened it and lifted the tissue paper away from the material and pulled her dress out, smiling at her choice.

-

_The night of the Yule Ball_

-

It was snowing outside, heavily. The guests were escorted inside by doormen holding black umbrella's. The foyer was decorated splendidly, like a ball room from a movie. There were big chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that illuminated the room with a warm light, long lengths of blue and white silk were draped over the balcony above the crowd and along the banister of the staircase. The tree was covered in blue and silver and stood tall and proud at the back of the room. In different places along the walls stood ornamental reindeer, painted white and webbed in the theme colours while a string quartet played on the staircase.

Yuuki looked over the room, impressed. It was perfect.

She was wearing a black evening gown, strapless with a sweetheart neck and detailed across the waist with white beads. Her hair was up in a soft bun with a white hairpiece across the back. It was simple and elegant, perfect for her.

Fortunately though, it was warm inside.

The host club members were all dressed in black tuxes with blue ties - all were occupied with various young ladies and a dance floor. Yuuki watched them and smiled softly, Hunny's feet didn't even touch the floor when he danced and Mori was always standing by, grave and silent as per usual. Like the big brother Hunny never had. Tamaki was spinning a redhead around while Haruhi looked awkward with her partner, who was also a girl but ignorant to the fact that her host was as well. The twins were playing the 'Which one is Hikaru' game with a large gaggle of followers, all of which were dressed in pastels.

Kyoya appeared at Yuuki's side from nowhere. His previous guest had been pulled off by a group of friends to gush about the evening.

"It's nice" Yuuki said softly

"You look lovely tonight" Kyoya turned full to her

The girl didn't blush or react like the others "You don't have to host me, you know that?"

"I know, so do you"

Yuuki turned to him "I don't like men playing tricks"

"Who's playing?"

They had been playing with each other since they first met; they were to each other a giant jigsaw that seemed to have missing pieces and pieces with pictures to yet be revealed.

Kyoya took her hand "Dance with me"

Yuuki's eyebrows went up "I can see at least one problem with that" the walking brace was tight around her leg.

Kyoya tugged her hand and pulled her onto the edge of the floor "Problems can be fixed"

The girl looked away from him. She didn't want to be toyed with like all the other girls in the room, but something about Kyoya's nature was different. Now that he was away from the other girls he seemed...changed, open even. He put his arm firmly around Yuuki's waist and lifted her up, settling her so that her feet were on top of his.

The girl gave a small cry of surprise and objection "I'm going to crush your feet"

"Don't be stupid" he said before moving into the waltz that had begun.

"I...uh...get motion sickness?"

"Nice try" Kyoya smiled and looked over her head at the rest of the room.

Yuuki shut up and focused on staying balanced on Kyoya's feet.

"This takes stepping on someone's feet while dancing to a whole new level" She said after a minute

"Stop complaining" Kyoya replied softly

Yuuki stared up at him and couldn't hold his gaze "Okay"

The dance ended and Kyoya lifted her off his feet "No damage"

For some reason, the girl felt disappointed that she was apart from him. She felt cold not being pressed close to someone and when Kyoya let her hand go it felt like some of her had left with him. Yuuki was confused. She didn't understand why she wanted to be near him or why she wanted to discover the innermost workings of his mind. She shook her head and tried to banish the thought but they wouldn't leave. Across the room, Kyoya was smiling and talking to a pretty blonde. She was laughing at what he was saying and Yuuki felt a strange sensation of jealousy tingle through her.

She shocked herself at her latest revelation.

An hour later Yuuki decided she needed some air. She had thought herself into an impasse and wasn't getting anywhere by arguing with herself. It was cold outside, but not exceptionally so. Yuuki stared at the sky; it was covered with snow clouds, sagging under their weight. The girl switched her view to the expanse that the balcony looked over. From it she should have been able to see as far as the Ootori mansion but couldn't in the dark.

The dark. It was cold and dark and she didn't know what to think.

"Are you alright?" A familiar voice

Yuuki turned "Yeah, I had a bit of a headache"

"You suck at lying" Kyoya said standing beside her

"Aren't you hosting?"

"Taking a break, all of those girl's brain cells die alone."

"That's a blonde joke" Yuuki kept normal conversation but inside she was going insane with confusion and an emotion she couldn't name

Kyoya smiled and pushed his glasses up "You're not cold?"

Snow was getting stuck in Yuuki's hair, the white contrasting against the dark colouring. "It's bearable"

He frowned "You don't have to grin and bear things you know"

Yuuki looked away from him and went to say something but the words died on her lips.

Kyoya looked at her, the girl's arms were wrapped around each other and her hands latched just above the elbow. Her nose was taking on a red undertone.

"Let's get you inside" he said, putting his hand on the small of her back and guiding her back inside.

Yuuki put her walking brace down on an icy patch and slipped. She braced herself for a hard landing on a cold surface, she didn't even cry out. The hand slid from the small of her back and firmly rested on her waist, the arm attached sitting where the hand had been.

Kyoya caught her fall and pulled her up, Yuuki crashed into him instead of crashing into the floor. They stood as they had been before when they were dancing, only her feet were on the floor and her hands gripped to the fabric on his shoulders in fright. Yuuki let go of her grasp on Kyoya's suit. She glanced up surprised to find his face so close to hers.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly

Yuuki could feel his breath on her cheek "Yes, thank you"

Her reply was quiet, but he heard her well enough. For a long moment, neither moved. They just stood in the snow and looked at each other.

Yuuki felt something warm on her neck. Kyoya traced his thumb in a line across the front of her throat before settling just below her jaw where the other fingers rested below. Yuuki looked him in the eye but he wasn't looking back. His eyes were heavily lidded and he was leaning closer to her.

The girl didn't know what to do. This sort of thing had never happened to her before. She exhaled and felt her own breath wash of Kyoya's face and mix with his before rushing back against her. His mouth lingered just above hers. He ran his nose down the side of her own and held her ever so slightly tighter. Yuuki closed her eyes; a whole colony of butterflies had hatched in her stomach and she no longer cared for the cold.

Kyoya kissed her. It was soft, lingering and sweet. His fingers moved slightly behind her neck as he pulled himself to linger above her, just as he had moments before. Yuuki opened her eyes and found herself staring into Kyoya's, neither of them broke the gaze. She could still feel him breathing on her, the warmth spilling from her face and dripping down her neck.

He smelled like peppermints.

Yuuki extended her neck the short distance and pressed her lips to his once again. Kyoya felt her relax against him. She smelled like white rose and sandalwood and she kissed gently, with care but without caution. They pulled apart and stared at each other, nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said. He wasn't being a host and she wasn't arguing with herself anymore. They just were and stood there just being. Pressed against the other in silence and wondering when it all started. Yuuki would have put it down to the day in they did homework together for the first time, Kyoya would have said the day in Zero's stall. In the silence though they knew it wouldn't be an open relationship. He was a host. They lived in the same house. Yuuki had decided a long time ago to not put herself in the way of temptation and living within a few meters of the man she was falling for was going to be difficult.

"You can't move out" Kyoya broke the silence and pressed his mouth to her head, he had read her thoughts again.

"Then promise" she said quietly "...let's not get into _that_ situation"

He respected and understood her "I promise"

Inside they both knew that just the words of a promise might not suffice. They were young, they were falling for each other and, to be honest, were both a little reckless. They knew that with school, the club, riding and final year approaching that their relationship would not be as much as they both wanted it to be. In the snow they decided silently to keep things the way they were, Kyoya hosting, Yuuki instructing and both of them doing homework together. This would be a secret. They would create little moments to cherish until they were both free.

Yuuki pressed her nose into Kyoya's neck, he was warm.

Kyoya let her stay there for moment before letting her waist go and finding a cold hand. Wrapping his fingers around Yuuki's palm he tugged her softly to the door. She was freezing even if she didn't realise it.

"Inside" he put his other hand on the small of her back and ushered her back to the party.

"Can I slip again?" Yuuki asked

Kyoya smiled "If you like"

Before she could find a piece of ice he had pressed his lips to hers again. Yuuki liked the non-business Kyoya allot. She liked the business one to, but the non-business one was even better. The private man no one saw but those he let into his walls.

Kyoya liked that now he knew the way through Yuuki's mazes. Even so, he wanted to walk through them forever.

"You kiss by the book" Yuuki quoted

"Don't compare us to them" he replied softly "we're not a tragedy"

She felt him squeeze her hand before letting it go.

When she looked at him later in the night he had put on his masquerade of host, but now that she knew the way through his walls, Yuuki could see something warm glowing from deep within the business persona and tolerated dalliances with silly girls.

Yuuki was the only girl Kyoya would truly smile for and dance with for a profit beyond monetary value.

-

_Remember those walls I built  
Well baby they're tumbling down  
And they didn't even put up a fight  
They didn't even make a sound  
I found a way to let you in  
But I never really had a doubt  
Standing in the light of your halo  
I got my angel now_

It's like I've been awakened  
Every rule I had you breakin'  
It's the risk that I'm takin'  
I ain't never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I'm looking now  
I'm surrounded by your embrace  
Baby I can see your halo  
You know you're my saving grace  
You're everything I need and more  
It's written all over your face  
Baby I can feel your halo  
Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo (halo) halo  
I can see your halo (halo) halo  
Woah...

Hit me like a ray of sun  
Burning through my darkest night  
You're the only one that I want  
Think I'm addicted to your light  
I swore I'd never fall again  
But this don't even feel like falling  
Gravity can't forget  
To pull me to the ground again

Feels like I've been awakened  
Every rule I had you breakin'  
The risk that I'm takin'  
I'm never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I'm looking now  
I'm surrounded by your embrace  
Baby I can see your halo  
You know you're my saving grace  
You're everything I need and more  
It's written all over your face  
Baby I can feel your halo  
Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo (halo) halo  
I can see your halo (halo) halo

Everywhere I'm looking now  
I'm surrounded by your embrace  
Baby I can see your halo  
You know you're my saving grace  
You're everything I need and more  
It's written all over your face  
Baby I can feel your halo  
Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo (halo) halo  
I can see your halo (halo) halo

_(Halo, Beyonce, 2009)  
_

_-_

-------------------------------

_You know the drill. Rate and review. _

_P.S – I've never written anything remotely romantic before. I hope that was alright. _


	11. Chapter 10

AUTHORS NOTE: when you are sick, if it lasts for more than two days, do not continue to self-prescribe yourself 'at home drugs' (i.e. paracetamol, ibuprofen, and copious amounts of codeine...) because they will mask the fact that you are actually ALLOT sicker than you first imagined. Doctors will freak out when you turn up claiming to have the flu and then they will give you a mule's kick worth of antibiotics.

-

**Chapter 10**

-

Traditionally, Yule festivities last from December 25th till mid January. Traditionally, Ouran High School and the Host Club bent traditions for their own purposes. Either way, the night had been a great success.

Yuuki had crawled into bed at 1am, her past discrepancies with the world nothing more than a nightmarish reality shrouded in a dream. She lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, her fingers drawing lines on the covers before moving to trace the line of her neck. The girl smiled shyly to herself and rolled over before going to sleep.

Kyoya sat on the edge of his bed and pulled out his phone, he pressed it to his ear and listened, eyes closed, face thoughtful. He didn't speak. When the line went dead he closed his mobile and put it next to his glasses on the night stand before disappearing under the covers.

As per usual, Yuuki woke up before everyone else. She made her way to the kitchen and attacked the orange juice. It was one of her oldest habits and nothing was going to come between her and morning beverage. Nothing except Kyoya's father.

"Miss Cunxin" he addressed her formally

Yuuki bowed quickly out of respect "Mr Ootori, sir"

"Did my son keep himself in line last night?" his voice reverberated in a stern manner around the room

"Yes, sir, I believe so" She was dressed in her pyjamas; long black track pants and a blue hoodie. The girl felt a little exposed.

"You're the first awake" he remarked "Early riser?"

"I am, sir"

The man unwrapped the newspaper that had been sitting on the countertop; he was dressed in a business suit "You are good friends with Kyoya"

Yuuki wondered why he was asking questions, most people talked about the weather "Yes, sir"

"Why do you use English honorifics as opposed to Japanese?" Mr Ootori was reading his newspaper

"Um, I learnt to speak English and Japanese at the same time. I guess it's my hybrid language. I'm sorry if I offended you" She knew how the Japanese were with their honour and title

"No, no, I was just curious. Tell me, what do you think the financial market is doing right now?"

What a strange question "I can't be sure, sir, but seeing as its coming Christmas...I'm guessing it's alright with consumer spending...but it has been unusually cold so electricity use may have gone up for heating and thus reducing the amount of money families, especially in the lower class, can spend. We are a capitalist society so, I'm guessing things will be alright as long as people keep buying, selling and no natural, political or economic disasters occur." She lifted her voice at the end, making her statement half a question.

"Mmmm" Kyoya's father was menacing, he made Yuuki uneasy "How old are you?"

"I turned sixteen on September second"

"What do you want to be in ten years?"

Yuuki wondered about the barrage of questions, it was like being with the careers counsellor "In ten years...I hope to have gone back to the Olympics"

"Be one of the gods hey?" he seemed amused

"Kyoya got me thinking about psychology" Yuuki offered him some orange juice, he declined.

This good the man's attention "Psychology?"

"It takes three years to get the degree; it takes four for an Olympics to come around. I could do both and it seems that either occupation doesn't have a set age limit" She had only decided this last night, laying in bed with her walls down and her emotion on neutral.

Mr Ootori showed no emotion. He was intimidating, calculating and foreboding – he was not a man Yuuki would want to cross, ever.

He rose to leave after receiving a message from his driver.

"Thank you, sir. For letting me stay here" The girl said as he left

Kyoya's father nodded curtly and disappeared through the doorway. Yuuki started breathing again.

-

It was a week and a half till Charismas and Yuuki hadn't bought a thing. Kyoya found her in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a teaspoon in her mouth.

"Why are you awake?" he was still groggy, up early for an Ootori youth

Yuuki stood upright "Why are you?"

"Because, it's daytime"

"Exactly" she was still in her pyjamas and slightly unnerved by her discussion with Mr Ootori just moments before.

Kyoya took the orange juice from her "You look like you're on edge"

"Your father and I had a discussion this morning"

"Oh?"

"Actually, it was more of an interrogation. I was surprised he didn't ask my height and weight along with my life dreams"

"He's like that with other people's children. He's already decided out fate, why not discover what everyone else is doing so that he can manipulate it" his voice was bitter

Yuuki took her juice back "Is everything okay between you and him?"

"If there was something to begin with then yes, my father's sons are his business partners and future employee's, they aren't his relatives" Kyoya pushed his glasses up

"Hmm, I think I maybe, just might, possibly, know what that feels like"

The man ran a hand through his hair and sighed, the snow was falling thick outside. The trees were laden with white foliage. Yuuki stared at it through the window and wondered about Zero. He loved the snow.

"What are you thinking about?" Kyoya asked

The girl turned and went to say 'nothing' but changed her mind "Zero"

"You'll see him again"

"He won't be mine"

"What does that mean?" Kyoya stood beside her, giving Yuuki tingles up that side

"He's being auctioned and I can't afford him, even with my savings. I could buy a house or three with my savings but I can't buy my horse"

"He cost that much?"

Yuuki nodded "Prize winning horse flesh, owned by the Cunxin's, it's like putting the word Gucci on a plain t-shirt and increasing its price tenfold."

Kyoya didn't say anything; he just stared out the window with her. The snow had kept coming strong for three days now. An onslaught of white and bitter wind that looked pretty but lost its charm when experienced. Of course, snow could be beautiful when it wasn't trying to decimate the surrounding habitat. Life's just funny like that.

After five minutes of thought Yuuki stirred "I need to go shopping. What's happening Christmas?"

"About midday the club heads to someone's house and we do the presents, lunch come dinner, fireplace, traditional things"

"Like family"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up "Like family"

The problem with having successful parents is that they stay successful, they have their own festivities to go to and once their children are old enough to arrange their own they push them out of the nest unconsciously. Haruhi was probably the only person that might not be there on Christmas, but her father probably had a party as well.

Yuuki could feel the tension in the room, she didn't like it, and it was uncomfortable. A cloud that each person carried above them, that had nothing to do with anyone else but affected them anyway.

The girl put on a smile "Let's go shopping"

Kyoya had the same urge to get out of the present situation, but not the same to go shopping. He agreed anyway.

-

"You know, you're so much easier to be around when you're not trying to manipulate capitalist society" Yuuki limped through the mall an hour later.

It was five stories high and full of every high class brand name from Armani to Vitton, it was a rich girl paradise, a watering hole for the rich and famous of Japan.

Kyoya paused outside a Dolce and Gabbana "Who say's I'm not manipulating? And your allot slower on one leg"

Yuuki leant on her right foot and nodded "Yes, yes I am, which is why you're safe at the moment. Is it a constant need of yours to always be trying to get to the top?"

"Yes, hungry?"

"Focus, we're here for gifts"

"I'm hungry" Kyoya turned and walked away, glancing over his shoulder for Yuuki to follow

She hadn't moved. Her arms were crossed and she had an expression that 'I'm going to play his game.' Stubborn woman. The man sighed and headed back, shopping was not his favourite pastime.

"Fine, what are we buying them?"

"I was going to buy Haruhi Marc Jacob's Daisy perfume; she needs to be more feminine"

"That's what I was going to buy her"

"Buy her a blouse, or a belt...or chocolate..."

Kyoya raised his eyebrows "Then I'm getting Tamaki the golf set"

"No way" Yuuki walked into the store they had been standing outside "I was going to...wait...what would Tamaki do with a golf set?"

"Play golf, duh" he was smiling as he said it, so the girl couldn't glare at him for his back chatting.

She picked up a jacket "I don't think Tamaki would play golf" pause "I really like this"

"Tamaki will play anything. He's like a puppy, give him a new toy and it becomes an obsession. You have a jacket; actually, you have a few, nice ones to...and one looks allot like that"

"If you buy the golf set, I'm buying the perfume. This is a really nice jacket" She held it up.

Kyoya took it and put it back on the rack before whispering in Yuuki's ear "Capitalist societies remember? You're being manipulated"

"I can't work out who's doing it better, the store or you" she turned to him "You were manipulated to buy those clothes"

He couldn't come up with a comeback, Yuuki didn't buy the jacket. No mention of the night before had been made between the pair, but the fact that there was no awkwardness suggested that the event had been something enjoyed equally by both parties. Yuuki pulled into a Fendi store.

"Hikaru and Kouru" they were surrounded by sunglasses

Kyoya picked up some aviators "Don't they have a pair already?"

"You might be filthy rich Kyoya, but your still a boy" Yuuki sighed, men would never enjoy shopping or appreciate it to the extent a woman would.

"I resent that"

"No you don't"

"Okay, no I don't" he slid the glasses on her head.

Yuuki fell in love with them "You might be a boy, but when you try, you have great taste"

Kyoya laughed "I'll tell Tamaki to get them for you"

She smiled and put them back before finding something for the twins. She ended up buying them Ray Bans instead.

Two hours and many shopping bags later the task of gift shopping was complete.

"Are you hungry now?" Kyoya stopped outside a restaurant

Yuuki tried to keep walking but he caught her arm "We need wrapping paper"

"Stop being a girl" he asked for a table and pulled her to it

"I can't stop being a girl, not without a lot of hormone treatment" Yuuki said stubbornly

Kyoya sat her down "Be nice"

"Fine"

"Fine" he couldn't help but smile "You're so immature today"

"Pray, do tell how?"

"Stubborn, slightly reckless, intelligent but only for fleeting moments and erroneous for most of it"

"If this is about the sixty percent off thing..."

Kyoya laughed as a waiter came to get their order. He ordered for them both before Yuuki could open her mouth.

"There better not be wasabi in that" she said

"There's not"

"Good"

Kyoya stared at her; Yuuki was preoccupied with the goings-on of the other side of the glass wall that looked over the rest of the mall. She was people watching.

"What are you thinking?" he leant forward

Yuuki pointed to the third floor where a small child was having a tantrum outside Gucci "I was thinking that, if I had any maternal feelings to begin with, then they just disappeared"

"You don't like kids?"

"Not yet" she pulled a face. Later she was sure that kids would be something to want, but at present little brats were not her cup of tea, she was too young.

"You're too young anyway"

"You always read the last half of my thought pattern"

"Everyone needs a map to begin with"

Yuuki looked at Kyoya, he had a point. Ever since the night before, she had found no problems in understanding him – even if that understanding could not be explained in words. Unconsciously her hand went to her neck and she remembered the action that had thrown her impasse.

"What are you thinking now?" Kyoya broke into her memory

Yuuki frowned playfully "That's my business"

-

It was late afternoon when the pair arrived back at the Ootori estate, laden with bags full of gifts and wrapping. They hadn't bought anything for each other, deciding to do the no-gifts thing that always failed for at least one member of the party. The driver assured them that their purchases would be brought to the house from the garage and that they should both head inside, away from the cold. The couple thankfully agreed.

Yuuki began to cross the short walk to the front door and discovered a new patch of ice. She began to slip but turned in time to grab Kyoya's jacket. He, in turn, began to fall over at the sudden force pulling him towards the ground. After a few seconds of scrambling and laughter they managed to right themselves and exchange a look of intimacy – remembering Yuuki's first slip up. As soon as the girl took her next step, she slipped again and the process of staying upright began again. Except, this time, it failed and they fell.

"Damn gravity" Yuuki hissed, half laughing, from her location in the snow and ice.

Kyoya had come close to face planting beside her and was covered in snow drift; he righted his glasses and began laughing. "I'm going to be upset and relieved the day your leg heals"

"Why upset?" Yuuki sat up

Kyoya wrapped his hand around the back of her head and pulled her mouth softly to his, kissing her gently.

"That's why" he whispered

Yuuki blushed and pressed her forehead to his. "Me too then"

After a few lingering moments they both stood up and headed for the front door. There were a few more hairy moments on the way there, but romantic moment or no – it was too cold to stay outside. They were both falling for each other, faster than they first thought, and it had nothing to do with ice or snow.

-

Yuuki sat in the lounge with a spread of wrapping paper and sticky tape. She put the bottle of cologne she had just wrapped on the low coffee table and pulled the pen out of her mouth.

_Mori_ was written on the bottom corner, she would write a card later. Yuuki had to change her clothes once inside, snow had seemed through everything and become a freezing, wet mess. She was currently dressed in a cream turtle neck and a pair of navy blue track pants. A fire was going to her right and warmed the room. The snowfall outside had turned into a raging snowstorm and the wind was clawing at gaps in the glass, howling for entrance. Yuuki looked out the giant glass window and smiled, she loved storms, fireplaces and wrapping paper.

Suddenly her quiet moment was broken by a small force sticking a bow to her head.

"Kyoya" Yuuki peeled it off "You broke into my bubble"

"What bubble?"

"You know...the personal space bubble" she used her arms to emphasise a circle around her "The bubble that gets invaded by creepy old men, exceptionally small children, that strange Renge girl at the host club and...now...bows" Yuuki stuck it to his knee.

Kyoya was sitting on the couch behind her, pretending to wrap presents "How wide is the diameter of this bubble?"

Yuuki moved her hands in a circle around herself again "About this wide"

"That wide?"

There was an enormous thunder clap that rolled through the house, the girl started. Kyoya took the scissors away from her.

"How wide is it now?" leaning over her shoulder, he put his face close to her ear.

Yuuki exhaled "Somewhat smaller"

The house was empty and ominous, Kyoya's father and brothers were stuck in Tokyo because of the storm and the house servants had been dismissed to get home moments after Kyoya saw the forecast, proving he did do things if they went against his earn-all-nothing-without-profit policy.

Yuuki didn't like the setting, the fire, the solitude, the storm, Kyoya... it was too seductive and that scared her.

"It's ten days till Christmas, why are you wrapping?" he was still at her ear

"You study two weeks before an exam, I wrap ten days before an event"

"Every time?"

He was so close, Yuuki shivered "No, but I like to be ahead of things"

Kyoya sensed something was wrong, he had promised not to get into the situation they were getting into. The girl didn't want that sort of relationship and he would respect that. He would not do to her what he had done to Haruhi, even though that was a different circumstance. He had been teaching her a lesson and Yuuki didn't need that, she was teaching him.

Kyoya leaned back against the sofa "Sounds like a plan" he extended his hand "Sticky tape, I'll cut for you"

The girl breathed again and handed him the tape. She asked for a bit a minute later, to which nothing was produced. Yuuki turned and laughed as she watched Kyoya have an argument with the sticky tape, one he promptly lost.

She sat next to him and pulled it off his jersey, muttering about men's failure to multitask. He replied that he hadn't been multitasking and then realised that he had insulted himself. Yuuki smiled at his blunder, he never blundered in public, and he didn't let others see that point zero one percent of his personality that allowed him to mess up. She appreciated that he had let her see that, already he had displayed a respect for her boundaries and had shared a secret that few would have ever guessed.

Kyoya watched as Yuuki took her place back at the coffee table, his face written with an expression even he wouldn't have been able to read.

-

_Your eyes are full  
Full of the future of us  
The air changes as you look across  
At me in that wondering way_

It is as if  
I knew you before we spoke  
Do our hearts know something we don't?  
Converging, conspiring, without giving us any say

You sing me to sleep  
Talk down my walls  
Look through my windows as I wait  
You could be the thief  
I give the key to

You're ruining me  
With secrets and gestures and looks  
With sonnets in second-hand books  
Playing the chords in me nobody knew how to play

You sing me to sleep  
Talk down my walls  
Look through my windows as I wait  
You could be the thief  
I give the key to

It fits in your hand like the water in rain  
Unlocks our two different selves  
And shows we are the same  
Rather than wait til I  
Put me out for the taking  
You're breaking  
You're breaking  
You're breaking into my heart  
And I'm letting you

Your eyes are full  
Full of the future of us...

_(The Thief, Brooke Fraser)_

--------

_You know the drill, rate and review. _


	12. Chapter 11

In this chapter

– fast cars – tiffany's – cake – stolen moments – character development – popcorn -

-

**Chapter 11**

-

Christmas morning arrived with the chills of a cold snap. Yuuki decided to stay in bed for much longer than necessary in order to remain hidden from the cold. The metallic sound of tyres crunching on icy gravel as a car pulled out of the drive caused her to brave the bitter weather and retreat into a hot shower. Kyoya had mentioned that his brothers and father had a business party in the north for Christmas, but she never figured they would leave so early in the day; even her father had stayed at the house until the presents had disappeared and adequate thanks given for them.

Yuuki dressed casually as the heating system began to kick in. A navy blue and white hoodie and a pair of jeans over the uncomfortable walking brace weren't at all a Christmas statement, but red and green didn't suit her. She stumbled to the front door, expecting the drive to be empty, but it wasn't. A sleek, black car was resting in front of the house, a red bow stuck to its roof.

"And I thought getting a horse was amazing" she whispered to herself.

Kyoya was getting vehicle whose cost would feed and educate thousands of children all around the world and then some. The man of the minute appeared behind her and looked out the window, emitting only a casual noise of appreciation before moving on.

"You got a 2009 Maserati GranTurismo for Christmas and all you can manage is 'hmph'?"

Kyoya paused halfway down the corridor "You know what sort of car that is?"

Yuuki was slightly offended "Just because I'm a girl..."

"It's just my father's way of getting his driver back" he cut her off "More profit in it for him than me" they were both upset and lonely on Christmas and both had odd, detached ways of showing it.

She couldn't believe he was so ungrateful, he had a new car, a big house and at least a sister who loved him "You are one of the most confusing people I have ever met. You say you're an egoist; you act indifferently around those who don't give you any merit. But then you prove to those close to you that you're not an egoist and actually do have a heart somewhere beneath that icy demeanour. But then, you brush off the car of the century because 'oh, it benefits' someone else more than it does for me'."

Kyoya turned to face her, his expression blank "Yes, and?"

Yuuki raised her eyebrows and exhaled angrily "You're a selfish bastard, you know that?"

She limped off towards the kitchen, leaving her friend standing in the hall with an unreadable expression on his face. Kyoya pushed up his glasses and walked after her, catching up in no time.

"This is because you don't have Zero today, isn't it?" he pulled her up in the kitchen

Yuuki looked up at him, even leaning towards her, Kyoya managed to tower over the girl "Kyoya, you have a family and a parent willing to buy you a car. A nice, fast, sports car. Your sister adores you, your friends adore you and yet...you don't appreciate it"

"I worked hard to get those things" he almost hissed

"So it's just a profit to you? Don't you get any profit from making someone happy, giving some of your money to...I don't know...starving children in Cambodia? I know you're a human being, but sometimes I wonder"

"You're overacting Yuuki, it's just a car"

"It's more than my father got me this Christmas" She lifted her hands as she spoke "All he could manage was 'oh, I'm selling your horse your worthless piece of...'"

"Yuuki" Kyoya cut her off again "He didn't say that"

"How would you know? It's always been about you"

He was somewhat angry; she was directing her emotion into fury against his flaws "Your brother told you Yuuki, you haven't spoken to your father"

Yuuki stopped trying to get away from him "How would you know that?"

Kyoya retrieved his phone and held it up "You think I'd just add some contacts and leave it at that?"

"You tapped my phone?"

"I transferred your saved calls." Kyoya's voice was even and calculating.

"I don't save my calls."

"All your calls are stored for twenty four hours."

Yuuki stared at him, not knowing what to say "Why?"

"Because that's how your mobile works."

"You know what I meant." Yuuki glared up at him

"You wouldn't tell me what was wrong."

"You never asked." Yuuki said softly, feeling slightly betrayed. Her emptiness over another loveless Christmas had needlessly exploded into the face of the man who could have possible turned that.

"I can't just pull a file up for you, Yuuki. The Japanese government protects all its representatives and it's not like you and I were close back then."

"Then why did you want to know?"

"Because I like to know things Yuuki, I'm educated and I'm always one step ahead in order to catch up with my brothers." He paused "Also, you're the only person I could never read."

"You're basically telepathic." Yuuki shot back, feeling invaded

Kyoya sighed "Can we just spend today as if we're both not upset?"

"But we both are," Although mad, the girl really appreciated that he was actually showing emotion around her. He still hadn't apologised for invading her privacy.

"Then let's make today enjoyable. We both had expectations that were the same and erroneous" he admitted that much "and it seems that they ended up hurting the only person who wasn't the ghost of Christmas past that we've had to put up with for so long."

"If you shaved your head and put on a couple pounds you'd look like Dr Phil" Yuuki leant against the kitchen counter

"How much American TV do you watch?"

"Just Dr Phil"

"You really knew what type of car that was?" Kyoya leant beside her

Yuuki smiled slightly "Yes. I'd have wanted a Jaguar though"

"Can you even drive?"

"No, but you're going to teach me"

Kyoya crossed his arms and looked sceptical, weighting up the health issues involved in undertaking that sort of responsibility. He concluded that it would be detrimental mentally, if not physically too. Yuuki looked up at him before shoving him with her shoulder. They were both trying to apologise and move on, but both were still a harbouring pain that came with important events having been so empty for so long. They were both to stubborn to admit it and thus wallowed in their own quiet, sadomasochism.

-

Half an hour after the unexplainable tiff, Kyoya and Yuuki were sitting in front of the tree. The girl was shaking things and the boy was telling her off.

"I'll shake it if I want to" she put a gift back

"You bought those things, you know what they are." Kyoya leaned back.

Yuuki went for another one. "Irrelevant."

"Do you want to break half the stuff?"

"No..."

"Stop being a child."

"You're a child." She shot back.

Kyoya raised an eyebrow and Yuuki laughed. Silence issued.

"Christmas isn't a happy thing for you, is it?" Yuuki put her next victim down and lay on her stomach beside him, her head on her hands.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I want to know you" she pulled a stray thread off the cuff of her hoodie, obviously shy when it came to intimate conversation.

Kyoya sighed "Well, my parents are often away, as are my brothers now that their old enough. I have the option of going to their parties but...as much as they have merit...it's not how Christmas used to be."

"How did Christmas used to be?"

"We had the tree and a big train set that went around it. My brothers and I were all young then, so my parents leaving would look like negligence. We had parties here, with families who also had children. When everyone grew up, Christmas moved..." he was human after all.

"But the memory didn't."

Kyoya didn't say anything; he stared at the ceiling, emotionless.

"I remember emptying my father's spare change into the Christmas cake mix one year. Almost killed an aunt. It became a tradition though." Yuuki said in a melancholy manner, her voice softened "I also, quite vividly remember the first Christmas without mom."

There was a long silence as the pair stared at each other. Different lives, same emotional crossover. They connected through that, along with the many other things they bonded unconsciously though. This Christmas, they had finally found someone who understood the past and could counteract it as if they were counteracting their own painful memories.

Kyoya ran a piece of Yuuki's hair through his fingers; it was the colour of dark chocolate and smelled like roses and green tea. The girl watched him, understanding through the silence. She took his hand and locked it with her own as Kyoya leaned in.

There was a loud banging as the front door was abused.

Kyoya sighed, Yuuki felt his breath wash over her face and it made her dizzy. He was slightly annoyed.

"Three...two...one..." He sat up.

As if on cue, a bright blonde threw himself into the room and latched onto Kyoya.

"Kyo-Chan!!" Hunny beamed "Merry Christmas!"

He was dressed in Christmas colours, as was Mori who entered shortly after, bearing gifts. The twins barged in behind him and cried a joyous merry Christmas.

Yuuki stood up and greeted them "Where are Tamaki and Haruhi?"

"Oh" Hikaru and Kouru began "Tamaki got a new car too. He wanted to pick Haruhi up in it."

Kyoya pushed his glasses up "What type of car?"

"A 2009 Porsche Panamera in silver." Mori said from the seat he had just occupied.

Kyoya seemed pleased. His was faster and destroyed the economy better. Egoist emerging.

"Is there Christmas Cake?" Hunny asked, climbing up Yuuki.

The girl looked at him and smiled "It's quite the possibility."

Kyoya smiled a ghost "Quite."

Hunny cheered and declared his love for cake. Especially strawberry. And chocolate. Oh. And Christmas cake.

-

An hour later, Tamaki and Haruhi arrived.

"Sorry we're late!" the blonde said, emerging unannounced, into the lounge.

Haruhi looked slightly amused "Apparently he can't find his way anywhere without a driver."

"You don't have GPS?" Kyoya asked coyly.

"Not yet." Tamaki dumped his armload of gifts under the tree.

Kyoya smiled evilly. Yuuki shoved the back of his head in order to wipe the smug grin off the Ootori's face.

Hunny pounced on the newly arrived pair "Let's do presents now!"

Haruhi peeled the boy off her and agreed, smiling. The host club converged around the tree.

The twins didn't take their sunglasses off and Tamaki tried to play golf in the living room, but after many objections, sat down defeated. Kyoya had bought Yuuki a present; it came in a little blue box, wrapped with white ribbon. Tiffany and Co. The girl opened it to discover a gold necklace with a circular pendant, decorated with diamonds. She touched it and then drew her fingers back, it was beautiful. The rest of the host club were busy trying to get Haruhi to put her perfume on and only one person noticed Kyoya doing the clasp up behind Yuuki's neck. Tamaki smiled softly before spraying the girl he liked with Mark Jacob's.

Yuuki had bought Kyoya a gold Rolex that she had caught him looking at when they were at the mall.

He mentioned this, to which her reply was a slightly smile. "Great minds think alike."

Hunny broke into their now communal bubble with a burst of brightness. He had put a bow in his head and was grinning from ear to ear. "Let's go eat cake!"

"After lunch." Yuuki said, standing up and directing him to the dining room.

"Before lunch too?"

"You'll get cavities."

"Not if I brush my teeth after."

"Did you bring your toothbrush?"

Hunny thought for a moment "No..."

"Cake after, okay?"

The blonde perked up "Okay!"

-

After lunch, Tamaki declared that he wanted to do the commoner Christmas tradition and make popcorn strings. Haruhi told him it wasn't a tradition or a commoner trend, but the man was adamant.

Fortunately the Ootori pantry was stocked well enough to cause an obesity epidemic and, although it didn't have enough popcorn to decorate their mammoth tree, there was enough to watch a movie with. Tamaki settled for not being able to have his 'commoner moment' on the terms that he could choose the movie. It was Ice Age.

"Why do you even own this movie?" Yuuki sat beside Kyoya.

He pushed his glasses up "I didn't even know we did."

It was possible; their DVD collection took up almost an entire wall.

Yuuki offered him a bowl of popcorn.

"I don't like sweet things."

"It's not sweet, it's not really savoury." She shook the snack in front of him.

"What is it then?"

"...uh" pause "Exploded air"

Kyoya smiled "Interesting view."

She shook the bowl again.

"It's still no."

"Spoilsport"

"Do you even like popcorn?"

"Not really." Yuuki looked at the bowl, seemingly disappointed.

"Then why are you eating it?"

"Does it look like I'm eating it?"

Kyoya took the bowl off her and put it on the coffee table "It looks like your mourning it."

The twins were more than happy to have the extra bowl and Hunny had decided to douse his in cake frosting. Mori had neglected to tell his friend that Christmas cake contained brandy and Hunny had eaten most of it and was now rather...alert.

-

The host club only left at midnight that evening, after Tamaki and Kyoya had held their 'my car is better than your car' debate. Kyoya won.

Yuuki collapsed on the couch in the lounge, surrounded by a bedlam of paper, popcorn and ribbon. She had just completed her first successful Christmas in a decade, it was a good feeling.

"Are you going to bed?" Kyoya was standing in the doorway.

Yuuki yawned "Not yet. I'm going to sit here and think for a bit."

The man pushed his glasses up and paused with his finger still on the noseband "About what?"

"Things."

"What things?"

"Maybe you should tap my phone." Yuuki turned her head to smile at him.

Kyoya didn't smile enough for it to be transmitted across the room, but he did react. She was playing with her necklace. He hoped it became a habit.

Kyoya left silently, leaving Yuuki to her vices.

The girl stared at the tree like she had a few nights before. She thought of her mother and smiled, she would have loved the day. She would have loved the necklace and she would have wanted to talk boys. At least, that's how Yuuki imagined it. Her mother had never had the chance to develop a relationship with her teenage daughter. Yuuki wanted to ask her about living in the same house as the boy she liked. It probably wasn't smart, but the girl couldn't imagine it any other way. They fit, despite their many opposites.

Yuuki stopped twisting the necklace and looked at it, letting her other hand tracing a line down the side of her neck. She had got everything for Christmas that she never had before. Friends who were basically family, smiles, snow, laughter and love. Yet, there was still a gaping wound that refused to close.

Zero.

The girl wondered what he was doing, probably asleep or thinking of her. Wondering why she hadn't turned up to ride him. Wondering where his master had gone. Yuuki stared at the horses leaping up the tree and wondered if she would trade everything for her horse back. Everything for him. For her career, her future. The Olympic dream that was still harboured within her as it had been within her mother.

Yuuki fell asleep on the couch, wondering about her future. Wondering if it had Zero in it and doubting the idea very much. It tore her apart inside to feel that. Yet, there were a pair of glasses that slid into her dreams too and for some strange reason, they gave her comfort.

-

_Let me not to the marriage of true minds_

_Admit impediments. Love is not love_

_Which alters when it alteration finds,_

_Or bends with the remover to remove:_

_O no! it is an ever-fixed mark_

_That looks on tempests and is never shaken;_

_It is the star to every wandering bark,_

_Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken._

_Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks_

_Within his bending sickle's compass come:_

_Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,_

_But bears it out even to the edge of doom._

_If this be error and upon me proved,_

_I never writ, nor no man ever loved._

_(Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare)_

-------------------

_You know the drill. Rate and review._

_If you don't know what a Maserati is, shame on you. You should google it. _

_^-^ _


	13. Chapter 12

AUTHORS NOTE: The lyrics/poems/other at the end of each chapter are actually significant, please take the time to read them. Most of the songs are actually pretty awesome and worth listening to. The one at the end of this is a favourite of mine.

Enjoy.

-

**Chapter 12**

-

Yuuki sat on a hospital table and waved her legs over its edge. The left was considerably heavier than the right and was proving to be an annoyance. A doctor opened the door, Kyoya's eldest brother. He was holding an x-ray.

"Well, it appears that we will finally be able to sleep in without the constant taping throughout the house." His voice was stern but had a light humour to it.

"I can take it off?" Yuuki asked.

"You can take it off."

She smiled broadly and thanked the doctor before he left the room, on other business. She could take it off. She could be rid of the constant reminder that today was the day her horse was auctioned off. The last week of winter. Yuuki tugged at the straps around her leg and removed her walking brace before testing the leg. It felt strange. Like a second chance taken too late.

The girl walked properly for the first time in three months and couldn't appreciate it.

_Zero. _

She pinched her nose as she got into the car.

"You alright miss?" the driver turned in his seat.

"Yes. Thank you." She smiled softly and played with her necklace.

Kyoya and Yuuki had progressed relationship wise, but the only one actually savvy to the situation was Tamaki, and he kept trying to drop it to the rest of the Host Club, who probably knew and weren't saying anything.

"Back to school miss?"

Yuuki nodded. It was the end of the day; everyone would have left campus except the host club. When she arrived, Yuuki got out of the car, thanked the driver and began to run. She hadn't run in so long and it felt exceptionally good. It distracted her from the dread of the day. Her hideous yellow dress proved a difficulty when ascending stairs, but other than that, she reached the third music room with little difficulty for the first time. Yuuki caught her breath before pushing the door open and being assaulted by rose petals.

"Tamaki, it's just me." She pushed the blonde away as he held aloft a rose.

"You look different." He stood straight and put his forefinger and thumb on his chin. "Haircut?"

"I was at the doctor, I didn't get a haircut." Yuuki looked over the room, it was full. Kyoya was in the far corner, tapping away on his laptop whist still managing to amuse a gaggle of followers.

Tamaki shot a glance at Kyoya and then at Yuuki and then back to Kyoya. "You're not..."

"Not what?" she wanted to tell her best friend that she could finally walk. She wanted to jump on him but knew that it was hardly lady like.

Tamaki's face became all secretive, even though his voice remained the same."You and Kyoya...doctors..."

Yuuki smacked Tamaki across the arm. "No! Go clean your mind."

"It's so romantic, young lovers having to keep their affection a secret because of family situations. I want to tell some people. Let me tell some people?" the blonde pleaded.

The girl looked at him and sighed "No, Tamaki, he and I agreed to keep it slow until after school, and it's got nothing to do with family."

"Please?"

"No"

"Pl..."

"Tamaki." Yuuki's voice was stern. The Prince descended into his corner.

Yuuki caught Kyoya's eye across the room, he had looked up to view what disturbance was taking place at the door. His smile was almost invisible, hard to catch against his cold demeanour, but Yuuki knew what to look for. She walked over to him and got his full attention.

"Where did you vanish to?" Kyoya asked, his host voice still evident.

"I went to the doctors" Yuuki grinned "And now I can do this."

She stood on her left leg and hopped on it. "Ta daaa."

"Ah, good. That means you can take tea over to that table." He motioned with his head.

Yuuki glared at him, but knew what he meant. He was happy for her but couldn't say so until they got home. All for merit and merit for Kyoya.

The girl did as she was told before resuming her normal spot beside the window where she began her homework. Without realising, Yuuki began to draw a horse. She erased it quickly and tried her algebra again. It turned into a crooked blaze. Despite her dalliance about the freedom of her left side, her whole mind was now captive to the thought of Zero. What was happening to him? Had he been bought already? Was it a nice owner? Yuuki expelled an exasperated sigh and put her head on her arms. The puffy, yellow material didn't do much for joy, despite its happy colour. It absorbed stress okay though.

The room began to empty as the clock reached five. A familiar face appeared at the table.

"I know that not having a walking brace means you don't get anyone's sympathy anymore, but is that really something to be upset about?" Kyoya took her math homework and gave it a once over.

"The day I mourn for sympathy is the day the ocean turns orange."

"That would be an interesting environmental catastrophe."

"All those poor, confused fish..." She sighed.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up, his typical, brooding manner beginning to take over again. "What are you thinking?"

Yuuki looked out the window "I was thinking about..." she paused, he didn't need her stress so close to mid-terms "Nothing"

"Yuuki." His voice was stern, calculating. She knew he cared though.

"I'm tired. Let's go home." The girl picked up her books and walked to the door.

Kyoya wrote something down on his clipboard and pulled his phone out before joining her. Business as per usual. Yuuki waited and watched, she was really fond of him. Kyoya and his changing character that only she could predict and read. Kyoya and his annoying clipboard and cold, manipulative nature that only she knew the core warmth of. He joined her and they walked to the car together.

"Record time." He looked at his watch, same gold Rolex. "You're so much faster now. Its convenient."

"And I can kick now that I have full use of both legs."

"Threat taken." Kyoya slid in after her "You feeling alright?"

"Yes."

"You're a very bad liar."

"I'm not that bad."

"You'd make an awful business woman."

Yuuki shot a glare at him.

Kyoya leaned back against the leather seat, his car was better. "You're not going to tell me."

"You don't want to hear my issues."

"Then my asking was....what?"

Yuuki played with her necklace and looked out the window. Kyoya didn't ask again, he could guess as much. He could not think of a game more interesting than trying to unlock her secrets and understand them.

-

When they drove into the estate, Kyoya refused to let Yuuki out. Instead, he pulled a long piece of black silk out of his pocket.

"Sit still." He ordered.

Yuuki pulled away from him "Why?"

"Yuuki, would I make you do it if it wasn't for a purpose?"

She relaxed, trusting him. "I can use both legs now, remember?"

"Be careful getting out of the car." Kyoya tied the material around her eyes and took her hand as he led her into the open.

"Kyoya, I can't see." Yuuki said, stumbling over something a minute later and getting snow in her shoe.

"Your powers of observation never cease to amaze me."

"I don't like surprises."

"Be quiet."

"Yes sir." She replied mockingly.

"Yuuki..."

"What?"

"Shut up."

"Shut up yourself."

"I'll make you be quiet if I have to."

"How?"

Yuuki felt Kyoya's lips against hers.

"You cheated." She tried to pull the silk off her eyes; he was a good distraction from her psychological turmoil. "I shou..."

He kissed her again.

"Kyo..."

This time Kyoya slid his hand behind her neck when he pressed his mouth to hers and lingered a moment longer than necessary. Yuuki smiled and shut up. For a moment he had made her feel a million times better than she had been a minute ago. Yet, slowly the feeling of dread and loss was returning. After a few more minutes of stumbling on two legs, Yuuki was finally brought to a stop. Kyoya was holding her shoulders and directing her to face a certain direction.

"You're just as bad on two legs as you are on one." He remarked in her ear as he took Yuuki's blindfold off "But rumour has it...you're pretty good on four."

Behind them was the Ootori house; in front was the back garden into which had been built a yard, a paddock, jumping arena and a small stone building. Yuuki turned to Kyoya and frowned.

"This was not here last time I looked."

"Special building team came every day during school and left before we got home. The owner owed me allot of money."

Yuuki looked at the set-up, it was amazing and it hurt to look at. She would never be able to ride in it.

"Kyoya...I..."

He had just closed his phone and wasn't paying attention. "What?"

"I don't..." As Yuuki spoke the host club appeared out of the small building, last one out was Mori and his hand was holding a familiar looking lead rope. Attached to this was a big bay Warmblood with a crooked blaze.

Yuuki put a hand over her mouth and turned to Kyoya and then back to Zero, not knowing what to do first.

The Ootori gave her a push. "Go."

She needed little more encouragement. Yuuki threw her arms briefly around Kyoya and took off. The host club parted as Yuuki reached her horse and wrapped her arms around Zero's head. The horse's ears flicked forwards at the familiar voice and smell of his owner.

"Miss me?" Yuuki ran a hand down his neck; half believing that he was actually there. Zero snorted into her stomach and arched his neck like the egoist he was.

"That's disgusting." She laughed and buried her face in his mane. He smelled the same. He acted the same. He loved her the same. Yuuki had her horse back.

Haruhi turned to Kyoya as he joined the group. "How?"

He pushed his glasses up "I saved her phone calls. Did some research and found a few people who owed me something. As soon as the buyers found out that an Ootori was bidding, they dropped like flies. You don't compete against my family for anything."

Haruhi didn't ask why he had a team of people owing him favours. "So, technically the horse is yours?"

"Technically." Kyoya crossed his arms and watched as Yuuki picked up where she left off.

-

Yuuki spent most of the afternoon exploring the new setup on the Ootori estate, the only time she headed to the house was to dump her books and change into riding clothes. It was as if she and the horse had never been separated, they jumped the same, they moved the same, nothing had changed. Kyoya helped her pack up as the sun went down.

"Thank you." Yuuki said for the millionth time. "I can't ever repay you."

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "You don't have to."

"That's amazing coming from you." She turned after putting her saddle in its rightful place.

"All you have to do now is sign the papers that arrived this afternoon, and then all your troubles will be over."

"What papers?"

"Divorce papers, you're legally old enough to live on your own without a legal guardian."

"Oh." Yuuki paused, her helmet mid air above the hook. "Those papers."

"You wanted to divorce your father, didn't you?"

"I think that was more on his side. One sided love is still love after all."

Kyoya frowned. "You love your father? After what he did to you?" he didn't understand.

The girl stood in the middle of the tack room and looked over her friends shoulder. "It's strange, isn't it?"

"Exceptionally."

"He wasn't always a bad person."

"No, just recently." Kyoya's tone was bitter.

"Why does it bother you?"

He put his forefinger on the noseband of his glasses. "You know what it's like to have a family who actually cared for you, as a person. As soon as that's ripped away, surely it's worthless and painful? You cut yourself off from those things Yuuki."

Yuuki stared at her feet and went to say something, but didn't.

Kyoya continued. "I didn't have any of that, we're all held to family by something though; I am by business and ego. There's nothing holding you anymore."

"Kyoya...I don't want to lose anything else."

"But you've gained so much." he still didn't understand why she wouldn't cut herself from a useless bond. Why she hung onto something that caused her pain when she could be so much greater without it.

"I can't lose my mother." Yuuki revealed. Something was tying her to the Cunxin family.

Kyoya didn't say anything.

"I owe her that much." the girl continued. "I didn't even tell her I loved her before she died. The last words I said were 'mom, I'm scared'." Yuuki looked disgusted with herself. "Selfish..."

"Do you think you had to say it? Don't you think she knew?" If someone had loved him, he wouldn't forget. "Don't you think that she knew that you loved her? She had the proof through everyday acts; you didn't have to say it to let her know."

Yuuki didn't understand why Kyoya was angry. "Why are you upset?" her voice was small.

"Because, you had that relationship and now it's gone. Why won't you cut yourself from it? I can't cut myself from my own family, no matter how much I want to, I'm tied to them as a third son and through my greed to be as good as first. You're not tied to that and you suffer like me, willingly."

"I'm sorry Kyoya." Yuuki reached out to touch his shoulder. He moved out of the way.

She closed her hand. "Why do you always focus on the ten thousand things wrong with your life when there are a million things right?"

"That's an interesting view." He pushed his glasses up again.

"I'm sorry Kyoya." Yuuki stood close to him, not touching. What she was apologising for, she didn't know, but he relaxed. "So many things have gone right today, why can't we focus on that?"

He exhaled and turned his head away from her before bringing his gaze round again. His eyes were hard but there were holes in his wall and Yuuki could see through him. He was hurting all the time, and no one but she knew. The girl pressed her forehead to Kyoya's shoulder and let her hands rest on his chest. This time there was no resistance. He wrapped one arm around her waist and stared over her head at the window that allowed him to see into Zero's stall from the tack room.

_So many things have gone right today..._

He clenched his teeth, his own selfishness writhing. Yuuki should cut off the things she didn't need, discard the parts of life she was done with. Kyoya didn't understand why she wasn't done with her family, but then again, he had never lost someone like Yuuki had.

-

Yuuki signed the papers. Not for herself, but for Kyoya. She owed him for so many things, the one thing she could do was follow his advice. The girl wore her heart on her sleeve and couldn't hurt another, even at her own expense. She stood at the door to Kyoya's room and held the large envelope against her chest. Her hair was still damp from when she had washed it after dinner and was creating drops of moisture on the crisp paper.

Kyoya turned from his homework at the soft knock on the door, Yuuki held the envelope out.

"I have allot to repay you for, I hope this can account towards the debt." She didn't look at him.

The man took the paper and put it on a shelf before looking down at the girl. "You don't owe me anything. I've told you that."

"But I feel as if I do." Yuuki said softly.

"Then don't repay me like this."

"How then?"

Kyoya put a hand on the wall behind Yuuki, half caging her. The girl didn't move. He leant in and lingered with his mouth above hers.

"Don't let others think that you owe them something when you have no debts." Kyoya spoke softly, teaching her like he had taught Haruhi, only gently. "You're too sweet and good and easy to manipulate. Take the answer and if you find the need to repay someone, do it silently."

Yuuki looked him in the eye. "I don't understand..."

Kyoya kissed her and let his fingers roam across her neck and behind her head. Yuuki kissed him back, understanding.

He was finally finding profit in non-materialistic things, he wanted to bind himself to something in such a way that it would hurt to divorce it. Just like Yuuki and her mother. In the end she had severed that part of her life and cast the lines over his. That, in itself, had repaid him in full. Kyoya finally had a part of life he had never been given before by anyone. Love that did not need to be spoken, for neither of them had professed it, but it shouted in decibels beyond human hearing through their acts. Silent looks, cherished moments and a foundation through friendship. His father had said he loved his sons, but he didn't. His mother had maybe loved them when they were little, but now they were just men who lived in her house. His siblings were rivals and shared respect but nothing more. Kyoya had finally found one of life's most priceless gifts, delicate and human; it could disappear in a moment.

Yuuki pulled away. Things were getting to intimate.

Kyoya ran his nose over her cheekbone before pushing off the wall and sliding his glasses higher. A ghost of a smile playing though his face. "Goodnight, Yuuki."

She smiled and stepped out of his room. "Goodnight, Kyoya."

For once, everything was as it should be. Yuuki would prepare for the Summer Grand Prix in Tokyo and Kyoya would study to become the first son by intellect and talent, if not by birth.

They had their own world, attached to reality. A private escape that only they knew of, that they could run to when they couldn't hold up their walls anymore.

-

_The paths have been crossed  
The crumbs are gone and the way, and the way is lost  
Melancholy phantoms eye our skins  
Poison apples falling with the wind_

Hear the sigh of the trees  
Those who enter here never leave

And the rangers stream out of their cabins  
They are the hunters  
We are the rabbits  
Maybe we don't want to be found  
Maybe we don't want to be found

Further in and on we go  
Sightless creatures tugging at our clothes  
Cutting through the twilight, sword in hand  
Strangers once united against the land

At the sound of the bells  
they're pulling paper lanterns from their shelves

The rangers stream out of their cabins  
They are the hunters and we are the rabbits  
Maybe we don't want to be found  
Maybe we don't want you tracking us down

The rangers stream out of their cabins  
Raising their muskets  
Flashing their badges  
Maybe we don't want to be found  
Maybe we don't want to be found

They keep hiding a quiet like  
They'll keep sneaking  
But they won't find us  
They'll keep living a quiet life  
You and I  
You and I

The rangers scream out of their cabins  
They are the hunters,  
We are the rabbits  
Maybe we don't want to be found  
Maybe we don't want you tracking us down  
The rangers stream out of their cabins  
Raising their muskets,  
Flashing their badges  
Maybe we don't want to be found  
Maybe we don't want to be found

_(Rangers by A Fine Frenzy)_

_-----_

_You know the drill, rate and review. _


	14. Chapter 13

AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter is a time-lapse. It takes on almost a year. I chose key moments and put them in, the story will continue after school but writing a whole year, chapter by chapter, would be tedious for not only me, but you as well. In this chapter you can expect:

- The beach – Driving lessons – A confession – Tamaki – V for Vendetta – Sydney -

_So, like it, love it, hate it. Whatever. Just enjoy it. (Rin on the Rox)_

-

**Chapter 13**

-

It was the summer Hunny and Mori graduated. The summer Haruhi and Tamaki finally fell in love. The summer Yuuki won her Grand Prix and the summer Kyoya surpassed his brothers and rumour started that he would one day be heir to the Ootori group.

The Host Club had gone to the beach and spent allot of time wondering about what would happen to them now that two members had left the school and soon the rest would. Hunny and Mori assured them that they would come to the Host Club and continue hosting until the rest graduated the following year; even so, it didn't feel the same.

Kyoya seemed relaxed now that he didn't have to prove himself anymore; he was finally taking a short break before throwing himself into his final year of school. He would sit under an umbrella and watch his friends play on the beach, Yuuki at his side, drawing in the sand. They had become inseparable.

"Okay." She looked up. "Capital of Laos?"

"Vientiane"

The girl threw sand at him. "Fine. You win."

"I win every time Yuuki."

"Only because you say some obscure country like... Azerbaijan, when I play."

They had been playing the capitals game, or, Yuuki had been playing the capitals game. Kyoya had just been answering questions.

The girl dug her feet into the sand at the bottom of her towel. "What's going to happen if that's on a geography exam?"

Kyoya smiled. Azerbaijan would never be on a geography exam. "You'll be fine." He had already planned the year out, just as he planned everything.

The next day, he taught Yuuki to drive.

"Accelerator on the right." He watched her as she concentrated and gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles went white. "Yuuki, relax."

"Okay." She exhaled and closed her eyes before flooring it and then slamming on the brakes.

Kyoya looked some ten years older. "Keep your eyes open next time." His voice was hard.

"Sorry." Pause. "Can't I learn in a different car? Something...cheaper? Like...a Volvo? Or Tamaki's Porsche even?"

The Ootori's car had an engine that sounded like a monster. It sat outside the front of the summer villa and roared as the pair tried to make heads and tails of Yuuki's driving ability.

"Relax. Accelerate, gently."

Yuuki put her foot down gently, nothing happened.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "Pedal on the right."

"Oh. Sorry." Yuuki touched the accelerator. The car lurched forward and stopped abruptly, throwing the pair into their seats.

"What did you do that for?"

Yuuki drummed the wheel. "It was moving."

Kyoya couldn't decide whether to be amused or angry. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but that was the point."

"I'd be better in an automatic." She stared out the windshield.

Kyoya laughed. "This is an automatic."

Yuuki looked at him, confused. "What's the difference with a manual then?"

"It has three pedals." He smiled as her face registered shock.

She stared at him. "I guess I would be better in an automatic then."

"I guess so."

They both decided that it was best Yuuki didn't hold a drivers licence.

The host club sat in the lounge of the holiday house and watched the Maserati bunny hop around the large, circular drive, roaring in distaste at its abuse.

"At least it's not my car." Tamaki said, smiling at the scene.

"Your car would be easier to replace." Hikaru said.

Kouru joined him. "Yours could only feed one African village for the rest of eternity. His could feed the whole country."

The blonde turned to them, his eyes blazing. "At least I can now save those children with the leftover money! Daddy is a good man!"

"Kyoya could too, now that he is heir to the Ootori group."

Tamaki lunged at the twins, who stepped sideways, allowing the man to face-plant on the marble floor. Everyone in the room had guessed Kyoya and Yuuki's status, even though the couple hadn't said anything about it. They kept silent like, hiding the full extent of their emotion and character from everyone but each other.

-

Yuuki found herself a new riding instructor and when school started again, she rode every morning for an hour and a half and every afternoon for two before coming inside to study. Some days the Host Club would come and watch, others she would be on her own. Most days, when she retreated from the shower and began her homework, Kyoya would enter and sit near her. Tapping annoyingly on his laptop as he controlled business and the host club.

"That noise is incessantly annoying." Yuuki turned to him one day. She was tired and stressed.

"You're the one clicking your pen." He didn't look up.

The girl stopped instantly and scowled at him. "That's not the point."

"Want me to leave?"

"No." She said stubbornly.

"I'm not going to stop typing."

"Then I'm not going to stop clicking my pen." She leaned over the table and put it in his face and began clicking it.

Kyoya grabbed her wrist. "Can you at least act your age?"

"Teenagers are the most notorious children of all." She grinned at his scowl.

"What am I then?"

"An egoist."

He didn't let her hand go. "If I was an egoist, then I would be self sufficient and self indulgent."

"You're denying your title." Yuuki tried to lean back as he contradicted his previous statements as to his nature. Kyoya still had her wrist.

"I am still essentially a selfish creature, I crave your company for myself much more than I should. Still, I find myself wanting to please you, for you. Before you came into my life I could make all kinds of decisions now I'm addicted. I have to know what you think." Pause. "What do you think?" He didn't take his eyes of his laptop and continued typing with his free hand. Still Kyoya essentially, but his words contradicted everything that others thought him initially to be.

"I think..." Yuuki was about to say something profound, but was too focused on trying to pry his fingers off her wrist. "I think I really need my hand back."

Kyoya let go and the girl lost her balance, she had been leaning away from him and suddenly had no force opposing her own. She fell on her back and stared at the ceiling.

"I find myself doing things at a loss for your profit. I do everything because I love you." Kyoya didn't stop his business.

Yuuki sat back up and thought for a moment. "Wait, what?"

"I was talking about reformation."

"No, I know. What was the last thing you said?"

Kyoya stopped typing and looked at her. "I think you heard me."

"Me too." She replied, not only to hearing him, but to his love as well.

There was a lapse of silence. "Yuuki?"

The girl looked up, Kyoya had stripped his walls down and she could see right into him. "Yes?"

"I mean that."

She smiled and looked at her page, blushing, before looking at him again. "I love you too."

---

_Sometimes I wish I was smart  
I wish I made cures for...how people are  
I wish I had power  
I wish I could leave  
I wish I could change the world  
For you and me_

_Sometimes, I wish I wish I was brave  
I wish I was stronger  
I wish I could feel no pain  
I wish I was young  
I wish I was shy  
I wish I was honest  
I wish I was you, not I_

_(Let's start over, Blink 182)_

---

Yuuki sat in Zero's paddock, her back to a fence post, just watching her horse.

Her horse. The girl smiled. Every time she rode she thought of Kyoya, every morning and evening, when she wasn't thinking about him, she was with him. It was Friday evening and homework could wait.

The long grass tickled her bare arms. Zero came over to her and put his head near her face.

"Hey pretty boy." Yuuki cooed, rubbing his blaze. "You did good today." They had trained dressage, not his strongest asset.

The horse blew into her face when he heard his owner's voice, his way of saying hello.

"Yeah, I love you too." She ran a hand up his neck. Zero pressed his soft nose to her chest, he smelt like sweet hay.

"I do, really."

He snorted.

"That's unfair. You need to get over the fact that you aren't the only male in my life now. I don't love you any less; it's just that...I seem to have grown enough to love more."

Zero began to nibble her pants in a friendly manner; it was an old habit of his.

"You wouldn't know, would you? You've been gelded."

The horse lifted his head and flicked his ears, somewhat offended.

Yuuki laughed. "It's true. Couldn't ride you as a stallion, you're a handful as it is."

"That is a conversation I want to know nothing about." A voice called out from behind her. It was Tamaki.

"You sure? I could go into the details." Yuuki stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. Zero slid his head over her shoulder and eagerly waited for Tamaki to reach them.

The blonde and the bay had become friends and Souh often came to visit the horse after spending time with Kyoya most afternoons.

"No, its fine." He raised his hands and laughed.

Yuuki moved out of the way as Zero tried to crush her between himself and the rail in an effort to reach Tamaki. "I see where I sit in this relationship."

"Daddy wins every time." The blonde offered Zero a cube of sugar.

"You shouldn't feed him those too often. He'll get fat."

"Yeah. And you will too." He replied sarcastically. "You both are training so much its practically impossible. I've seen you at school; you eat like a sparrow anyway."

"I do not; you just eat like a horse...for lack of a better word"

"I'm a boy and a Prince; I need to keep myself sustained in order to keep the ladies entertained."

"I think it's the yellow uniforms. Very off putting from any form of food. Makes me feel sick most days."

"They are rather hideous. Someone needs to save the ladies of Ouran from that awful colour."

"You're the superintendent's son. Change them."

Tamaki paused to think and instead of answering went back to a previous part of the discussion. "When you said that Zero wouldn't know...you didn't mean that you and Kyoya..."

"No! Gosh Tamaki. Get your mind out of the gutter." The girl threw a small stone at him.

"Hey, just asking. People are wondering about you two."

"What are they saying?"

"They just...suspect things."

"What things? And who are they?"

"Mainly Hikaru and Kouru. You live together, come on Yuuki. Its exceptionally romantic, you can't help but have people talking. The beautiful princess melts the cold Romeo.." Tamaki's eyes went wide and he clasped his hands together dreamily.

"We don't live together, together. There are boundaries." She replied indignantly.

Tamaki grinned. "That's so sweet! And Kyoya respects them? How lovely. I want to tell some people!"

"Tamaki. Please." Yuuki was going red from embarrassment; intimacy was a topic she got shy even thinking about. They had to read a romance novel for literature studies and she had tried to read parts of the book with her eyes shut, failing miserably and then getting even more embarrassed when Kyoya asked why she was blushing.

The blonde knew this; he wasn't the type to rub it in either. "Fine, I won't tell people. Except Haruhi."

"Why do you find the need to tell people?"

"Because, Kyoya...in love...it's...spectacular! We should base a day at the Host Club off it even, or write a book...make a movie...." He began to think. Yuuki didn't see how that idea would work.

The girl ducked under the paddock fencing and said goodbye to Zero. "I think that you should calm down and go home."

"I can tell Haruhi?"

"Only Haruhi." Yuuki was sure he would have told anyway, but giving him permission ensured he would only tell the people she had mentioned.

-

That evening Yuuki and Kyoya watched a movie. Yuuki had seen it before, in English. She said it was much better in its original context, allot of the meaning got lost in translation. Kyoya didn't see how a man in a Guy Fawkes mask could get lost in translation.

"However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition." She quoted in perfect English.

"You want to kill the evil people, some really evil people and some really evil political people." Kyoya brought them back to their own language.

"Very good." Yuuki smiled at him. "Alliteration is so much fun."

"Not in Japanese."

"And that's why were multilingual." She picked up the DVD box and read the back.

Kyoya watched her; she was sitting cross legged, like him. Yuuki's hair was out and had got rather long. It waved in places and looked black in the light, even though he knew it wasn't. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt and her black track pants. She was simple, beautiful, fragile.

The girl looked up. "What?"

"Nothing." Kyoya turned his attention back to the movie.

Yuuki pulled his foot, half removing the sock. "What?"

He looked at his sock and turned his gaze on her, not answering.

"I'm sorry." She laughed as he pulled it back on, obviously displeased. The weather was turning cold again.

Kyoya swung his legs so that his feet were on the ground. "I was thinking...about chemistry."

"What inspired that?" Yuuki looked at the movie; the main character was busy plotting. "The film could hardly be a muse."

"You are." He didn't turn to look at her.

"Oh. That chemistry. Not periodic table chemistry."

"Not periodic table chemistry." This time he turned to face her.

Yuuki moved across the couch and leaned her back against him. She held out a Pocky stick, a questioning look on her face.

"I don't care for sweet things."

"It's not really sweet."

"What is it then?"

"Breadstick with chocolate."

Kyoya took the stick and looked at it before trying some. He paused before speaking. "I don't care for it."

Yuuki sighed and let her head drop on his shoulder. "That was anticlimactic."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"You didn't." She pulled another out of the box. "More for me."

Kyoya smiled softly and ran a hand down her arm before letting it rest silently on her waist.

The next morning, Kyoya's sister came for a weekend visit. The house was silent and she crept around, looking for someone who was awake. When she reached the lounge she discovered the couple, sitting as they had been halfway through the movie. Both asleep.

---

_Derry down green  
color of my dream  
__A dream that's daily coming true  
And when the day is through  
I will come to you and take you on  
Your many charms_

And you'll look at me  
With eyes that see  
And we'll melt into each other's arms

You'll be my queen  
And I'll be your king  
And I'll be your lover too

_(I'll be your lover too__, Robert Pattinson)_

---

Winter arrived with exams and another cold snap. Yuuki took Zero to Sydney to compete in the Bates Three Day International. It was summer in Australia and the pair had to spend a week in climate training to prepare for the event. Yuuki was missing two weeks of school in order to be there, she found comfort in extra study with Kyoya. When Yuuki missed Kyoya she would call his mobile, knowing that while at school it would go straight to voicemail. She listened to his steady voice before she went into the ring and smiled, knowing he would be thinking of her. It calmed her nerves. The pair won the competition, but only just, having been let down in dressage.

On the last day of the Grand Prix, Yuuki was putting Zero into his stall when her mobile rang.

"Hello?" She held the device between her shoulder and ear, needing her hands to take her horse's halter off.

"Busy?" A familiar voice said from the other end. Yuuki smiled.

"Give me a minute." She put her mobile down and tended to Zero. "Hey boy. Guess who's on the phone?"

The horse began to chew on Yuuki's shoulder, creasing her jacket. "Oi." She pushed his nose away. "I know he's your rival, but don't take it out on me."

The girl picked her mobile up. "You there?"

Kyoya's voice was smooth and calculating, just like she remembered. "Rivals?"

Yuuki laughed. "You heard that?"

"Your horse doesn't say hello I gather."

"We can try. Start speaking."

The girl held the phone up to Zero's ear. The horse flicked them forward for an instant, identified the sound and turned the around.

"No, he does not say hello." She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "How are you? Shouldn't you be at the Host Club?"

"Time difference Yuuki. I'm fine. You're missing a lot of work."

"I know." The girl leant against the wall of the stall and rubbed her horse's head. "You'll help me catch up, right?"

"If it will give me merit."

"I won. You'll get merit."

"Congratulations. I wish I could be there for the ceremony."

"It's boring. You wouldn't like it. Just podiums and cheques."

"I'd get to scope out Australia for business. I hear that they are in dire need of good hospitals, and doctors, dispute the xenophobia. My father is interested in a corporation down under, so to speak."

"Yes, well, they're all pretty warm and fuzzy. Lively bunch."

"Not to your liking."

"I'm English by birth; the penal colonies weren't considered a social event until recently. Friendly people, lots of sun, pretty country. It's nice, but you're not here."

"Mmm. That was exceptionally generic."

Zero flicked his ears as his master laughed. Yuuki wrapped an arm around his head. "You know me."

"Well I miss you to if it's any consolation."

The girl smiled, imagining him doing the same. She liked it when he said what he was actually feeling deep down, not just on the surface layer.

"That is consoling, especially with all those girls at the club."

"Tamaki does that, I don't. Their families need to be positive about me."

"Uhuh. Always the pacifist."

"Profit is profit."

"What are you doing?" Yuuki tickled Zero's nose, it was soft against her touch.

"I am talking to you." Obvious first, Kyoya's basic rule. It keeps others at bay and stops them wondering. "And I'm checking the stock market."

"Is it good?"

"It's getting there."

"Aren't we all."

"You come home tomorrow right?"

"Flying out this evening."

"See you at the airport."

"You'll be there a while. I have to get a horse through customs."

"I'll bring my laptop."

"I know you will. Bring the clipboard too, just in case."

"Alright."

"Love you."  
"Love you too."

"Oh Kyoya?"

"Yes?"

"Sleep sweet." She could imagine the ghost of a smile lifting the corners of his mouth and his gaze lifting from what he was doing.

"See you tomorrow."

-

_Seasons are changing  
And waves are crashing  
And stars are falling all for us  
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter  
I can show you I'll be the one_

I will never let you fall  
I'll stand up with you forever  
I'll be there for you through it all  
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

'Cause you're my, you're my

_My true love, my whole heart  
Please don't throw that away  
'Cause I'm here... for you  
Please don't walk away  
Please tell me you'll stay_

_(You're Guardian Angel, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) _

--------------

_You know the drill, rate and review. _

_Let me know how this chapter turned out, I was a little apprehensive about skipping through such a time frame. I feel I touched on what I needed to, kept everyone in character (Kyoya is human...in as much context as one can say that...and despite how cold and calculating he is in the manga/anime, he does show a soft side. I try to display that whilst still keeping him as...Kyoya.) But still, we'll see. _

_Next chapter:_

_- Formal (or prom, but not really) – Final days of school – Exams – An argument -_

(Not necessarily in that order)


	15. Chapter 14

AUTHORS NOTE: Because sometimes things don't turn out how you want them to.

-

**Chapter 14**

-

Yuuki woke up in the middle of the night to her mobile ringing. There was no ID for the caller and she was tempted to leave it, but a curiosity gnawed at her for an instant long enough.

"Hello?" The girl said groggily, sitting up and turning her light on. Her eye's throbbed from the sudden abuse.

"Yuuki?" A voice called from the other end. "Yuuki?"  
"Who is this?" She pushed her hair out of her face.

"It's your father."

Yuuki didn't reply, she just breathed down the line in disbelief.

"Yuuki?"

"What do you want?" Her voice lost all softness.

"I want you to not sign those papers, Yuuki." He sounded desperate. Pleading.

Yuuki crossed her legs. "Why?"

"Because I was wrong about you."

"Yes, you were."

There was silence and a muffled sigh. "Why would you divorce your mother Yuuki?"

Yuuki stiffened. "I didn't. I divorced you. If you don't remember, you're the one who sent the papers."

"I want you back Yuuki."

"I'm not sure that's what I want." She spat back.

There was another long pause. "They're trying to buy the company, using the misuse of you as an accusation, proof that we aren't fit to run the business."

"I don't believe it." Yuuki leant against the headboard. "You just want to use me so that you can keep your precious millions."

"No...Yuu.."

"No, Mr Cunxin, I've heard enough."

"I want you back, you're my daughter and I was wrong."

"You were right about two of those things."

"You signed the papers."

Yuuki didn't reply. She clenched her jaw.

"You're just going to let the Ootori group take us over, all those decades of work?"

"The Ootori's?" Yuuki leaned forward. Kyoya said...

"Who else? Seeking to expand their empire."

He said he would never use her. "I don't believe you."

"As soon as you signed yourself away from me, you basically signed the Cunxin group to them. They are the ones who took you in. Politics favours them, the world favours them. It hates me because I sent the papers."

Yuuki balled her fist. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because, I'm your father, you can't divorce that, not really." He sounded sincere. Yuuki remembered the times before her mother died, he had loved her. She had been his princess.

"You don't have to move back, but please, Yuuki..." Her father continued, knowing that there wasn't much to be done now. She hung up and threw her phone across the room. He didn't love her, he didn't want her back. She wasn't that stupid.

But, what if he was right? Kyoya had said that the Cunxin group would help his family's discrepancy with that French company.

The girl swung her legs over the bed and marched into Kyoya's room. She leapt up the stairs with ease and stood at the foot of his bed before reaching into his closet and removing a pair of shoes. Yuuki promptly threw these at the sleeping Kyoya. It all made sense when she didn't want it to.

He groaned and rolled over, not yet fully awake. The girl went for another pair, Prada this time, with stiff leather and whippy laces.

"What?" He was grumpy.

"You bastard." Yuuki hissed at him.

There was a moment of silence as the light was flicked on. Kyoya reacted to the dim light by flinching. "Excuse me?"

"I just got a phone call from my father."

"Your ex-father Yuuki." He sat up, groggy.  
"You're breaking his company apart with me as the cause. You used me to get your hands on another business. The medical industry not good enough for you? Don't own enough resorts? Theme parks?"

"Yuuki. Calm down."

"I will not calm down!" The girl threw her hands in the air, already angry at her father and furious at what he had revealed to her. He had lied and told the truth and as much as she hated to admit it, she could now tell the difference.

"Remember what I told you the first time we had this argument?" Kyoya looked at the shoes on the bed and floor, frowning, frustrated.

"Yeah, French Company."

"Yes, the French, it's going to them."

"For your benefit."

"Yes. It helps. Why are you so upset?"

"You used me Kyoya! You knew I didn't want to sign those papers but I did it for you! FOR YOU! Because I love you." She still referred to the present tense, despite her anger and hurt. "And you threw it in my face, just like every other person I know."

"I still think it was best that you divorced them."

"Why? Because you can't divorce your own family?" She shot back.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up, he didn't move out of bed. "No Yuuki. Because you're better off without them."

"Everyone needs a family Kyoya. Even you know that. I don't have anything now. What do I do on their birthdays? Father's day? Just forget? People don't just forget. You just wanted your precious capitalist empire. Everyone needs a family! But it looks like you needed to get rid of a discrepancy more than you needed to look after me. You lied to me. You cheated me. You used me!"

"Yuuki, calm down." Kyoya did not like being woken up, but he didn't like not having his bearings even more.

"You know, you always thought yourself second rate and I never believed it. Not until now. This minute." Yuuki used her finger to point at the ground, indicating that moment.

Kyoya froze for a second and finally woke up. "This coming from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're always claiming you're not good enough, you bowed to your father's standard of you. You always believed you were second rate, you even convinced yourself that you knew it!"

Yuuki put her hands on her hips and went to speak but didn't get the chance.

"It's always about you, your broken heart, and your Olympic dreams. You only want the Olympics because it's all you ever knew. You never tried for anything more."

"And you've tried for it all, all for yourself. Even at another person's expense."

"I didn't use you without cau..."

"Yes yo..."

"Shut up." Kyoya snapped. "Stop yelling at me for one second. I didn't think you wanted to be with your family, not really. Even if you said you wanted to. You don't want that business and you and I both know your father doesn't deserve it. What use is it then? Why not give it to someone who can use it properly?" He was calculating, menacing almost.

"Like you?" She shot back, her arms crossed.

"Yes, like me." Kyoya reached for his glasses and put them on.

Yuuki stared. "So you admit it?"

"Admit what?"

"You used me to get at my father's business; you planned this from the beginning. I didn't have to pay you back for anything because 'oh, you cared too much about me.' My left foot you did. All you cared about was getting your sly hands on something you had no right in attaining."

"It had merit. It had profits, potential, the seeds a first son would grasp at. It was my chance."

"And what was I? A play thing to pass the time?"

Kyoya slid his glasses up characteristically and turned his cold gaze on her. "To be honest, I expected nothing to come out of it. When it did, I almost stopped what I was doing."

"No, but your too greedy for that. You figured losing a love was better than losing a business. Some toss-up." Yuuki took a step away, her heart freezing for a moment. He had admitted she had originally been his toy.

"I thought maybe I could have both." Kyoya said, realising he had miscalculated somewhere. He thought he could hide it from her until it was over and not fall for her in the process. But he had, he had re-planned. He would keep it a secret and tell her later.

The girl hissed. "Well, you can't have both. After graduation I'm leaving, you can have your little enterprise, but you can't have me at it's expense." She turned sharply and swiftly exited the room, hoping no one in the house had heard their argument.

Kyoya didn't sleep the rest of the evening, he went through every move he had planned and tried to work out where things went wrong. Yuuki's father had called her. He had told her that the Ootori group was, essentially, shaming him into handing over the Cunxin Agricultural Business. He had told her he wanted her back. Yuuki knew her father didn't, he just wanted his company. He had no daughter. Not anymore. Not a lot had changed from the beginning; the only difference was that there were now two cracked hearts, fighting not to shatter. Both of which were too stubborn to admit that the other was wrong.

-

The next day at school, Yuuki sat on her side of the car and stared out the window. She put a wall between them that screamed at him to be silent. To dare say anything. Kyoya stared straight ahead, not typing, not writing. Just staring. When she got out of the car she slammed the door and turned her back on him as she walked to the main building.  
"I'll get a cab this afternoon." The girl said flatly over her shoulder, pausing for a moment to gauge his expression.

Kyoya flinched for a millisecond before retaining his icy demeanour.

In class, Tamaki greeted both with his usual cheer. Yuuki smiled, soft and forced while Ootori just took his seat behind the blonde, practically freezing everything around him.

"Is...everything okay?" Tamaki enquired, leaning on the desk next to him.

Yuuki pulled the boy's sleeve back to look at the time, only eight hours to go. "Dandy."

"No it is not." He replied defiantly. "And I shall make it my duty to repair whatever damage occurred between you and Kyoya."

"Hm." Was the reply.

At lunch Yuuki sat across the table from Tamaki, poking her food with a fork. A seat scraped beside the blonde and she raised her head, dreading the daily routine. Kyoya always arrived slightly late. It was part of his meticulous routine. The girl replied by scraping her seat on the floor and dumping her food in a nearby bin before escaping to a study hall.

Tamaki leaned over his friend. "What happened?"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "She found out."

"About?"

"Me."

The blonde pondered for a moment. "Wait! No! Kyoya, you used her?"

"How do people know these things?"

"It's not hard to guess. But oh, what a tragedy."

Kyoya glared sideways at Tamaki. "She didn't know I what I was doing. That I needed her business."

Tamaki sighed. "No one knows what you're doing. Ever. Your unpredictable, mysterious, cold, dark, kind of scary and your always seem to be hiding some devious plan."

"Thanks for the uplifting sentiment."

"Kyoya, Kyoya, Kyoya." The blonde head shook. "Yuuki is a princess and should be treated as such."

"No Host Club jargon."

"No, seriously. You can't treat a woman like that! You can't 'need' her business; you should always tell a woman your motives."

"This coming from you."

"The girls at the Host Club know we're just acting. You are my friend, Kyoya, but seriously!"

Kyoya didn't reply. It was true. He was a jerk. And yet, he couldn't find himself from still wanting the Cunxin enterprise.

Tamaki stood valiantly and slammed his fist on the table. "You need a course on how to be a gentleman."

"No. I'm not going to do that. I'm not your puppet."

"Your loss." He sighed. "You don't run into a girl like that every century. Except Haruhi. But...she's mine. So...hands off."

Kyoya pressed his forefinger to the bridge of his glasses and closed his eyes. Tension gave him a headache.

Yuuki found Haruhi in the study hall. She was bent over a copy of Gone with the Wind and was obviously having trouble making sense of the English.

"Hey." The girl put a dictionary beside Haruhi. "That will help. Language studies are a killer."

The other girl looked up from her work. "Thanks." Pause. "Where's Kyoya?"

Yuuki knew that was coming. "Quite frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." She quoted. His greed could swallow him whole to, just like it had Scarlett.

Haruhi blinked, her friend never said anything harsh about a living being in the whole time she had known her. She knew she wanted to, but had never seen it come to a head. "Is everything okay?"

"Don't trust men. Ever. They only function for themselves." Yuuki said.

Haruhi stared up at her friend. "I don't get it?"

"You don't need to. I can't wait to get out of here."

"You're coming to the formal right?"

"Formal?"

"The 'last dance'." Haruhi reminded her.

Yuuki pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes. No, I remember now. I even bought a dress for that."

"You have to come. It's the last thing you will do with the senior cohort." Haruhi sensed de'ja'vous, Yuuki looked like Tamaki had the day before he almost ran away.

"Yes, I'll have to say goodbye to everyone somehow. As soon as that's done, I'm leaving."

"Where?" Haruhi expected an answer like Tokyo, somewhere close.

The girl paused and looked at the Host Clubs most notorious secret. The girl who was a guy and vice versa. "I think...I think I'll go home."

"You can't go back to your father." Haruhi looked perturbed.

"Not that home."

"Which one?"

"The one I was born in. Where my mother was born. She rode for Britain."

"You're going to England?"

Yuuki clenched her jaw. "I have dual citizenship for there. I booked my flight last night. It's difficult to get a carrier plane willing to take Zero. Olympic horses need pilots with insurance. This time next week, I'll be on that flight."

She was right. Finals were over, the only thing left to do was graduate, attend the formal and pack her bags.

"Haruhi?" She touched the girls shoulder. "I'm sorry. I really like you, but I can't be here anymore. I can't...I can't get hurt again. Please, don't tell anyone. It will be easier."

Haruhi nodded, it seemed like an Ouran trend to have people fleeing from and to the things they wanted. Tamaki went for his mother, just as Yuuki was doing. But she would find nothing. Even so, she was leaving something behind. She was leaving her father's guilt trip, her brother's indifference, her school life that had pushed her to extremes, a riding school she blamed for catalysing her divorce and the man who had manipulated it.

-

That evening Yuuki rode for an hour longer than usual thanks to not having to wait for the Host club to end before going home. She studied for an hour more and slipped into the shower.

Something thunked against her chest as she ran her hand up her neck. Her fingers had caught the chain on her neck and slipped free. The necklace sat on her collarbone, gleaming in the wet, winking up at her. Yuuki lifted the pendant with her fingers and stared at it a moment before clasping her fist around it. She tugged but backed out in the last second, still grasping the jewel. The girl closed her eyes and cried. She wanted to hang onto what they had cherished in the quiet moments she knew Kyoya couldn't be faking. He was a host, and he could woo whoever he wanted, but there was something unexplainable between them. Something special. And, even though he had thrown it away for greed, she hadn't. Not yet. Yuuki loved how, when he called her name or even smiled in her direction, she got the best feeling. It meant that, even if just for a moment, she was the only thing on his mind. The only thing.

Yuuki stood under the flow of hot water, drowning in the steam, and she cried. She finally let her walls down in her own world and mourned her losses.

Her father.

Her brother.

Her mother.

Her friend.

All abused and tore at her in their own unique way. She needed to escape.

After ten minutes, Yuuki turned the water off and wrapped herself in a towel. She had one more week. Seven days. Just One hundred and sixty eight hours. Only ten thousand and eighty minutes.

One week until a lifetime without the things she hated, but had loved the most. She couldn't even claim Zero as her own, but deep down she knew Kyoya wouldn't be chasing her down for a horse.

-

_You're staring at the same old view  
Held on fast--it became old news, and I  
I'll be gone 'fore long  
At least I'm gone now  
Hallelujah for that_

_Now you know what you lost  
Now you are the thieves that you pardon  
Search for need that will never come  
Hallelujah for that_

_There's more for their own now  
It's time for me to forget  
I don't need a reason to, so  
So long stray dog  
You're only joker, no  
Joker no more_

_Oh, to each their own  
But when you can call on your mind  
Just crying to hold back tears sometimes  
Wasted, wasted  
Before you forget what you came here for_

_You need to see the signs  
And you need to stop wasting time  
And selling the same damn story  
A story that you heard before  
And I waited for you but you were long gone_

_Stray dog  
You're only  
Only stray joker, no  
Joker no more  
Stray dog_

_(Stray Dog, Robert Pattinson)_

-

Kyoya lay on his bed, still in school uniform. The ceiling didn't prompt any thoughts. It was quiet. No one was clicking a pen. There was no smell of white musk and rose. There was no smile. No irritating questions about physics. No detailed philosophy on life, the universe and everything.

No fullness.

He had just received an email from a lawyer, Yuuki's father wanted to negotiate a price. The business was his as soon as he replied. Something was digging into the back of his head. Something sharp.

Kyoya brought his wrist forward and looked at the watch. It had a dial that allowed the wearer to set two times, local and international. Yuuki had set it to London time.

"_Because that's almost where the world starts." She had said. _

"_Greenwich technically."_

"_Being exact never left room for enjoyment." _

He could almost hear her in the lounge below his bedroom, tapping away with her usual, unusual antics that always seemed to strangely make sense.

Kyoya's laptop beeped. He looked at it, there was a new email. It was Tamaki.

_I worked it out. _

_Why you should get your act together._

_Why she's perfect for you. _

_It's the way she makes you laugh on the days you don't even want to smile._

_T._

Kyoya didn't type back. Tamaki knew when and when not to say things, even if it didn't appear that way. Tamaki could always make a woman happy. He would always sacrifice something to do so.

Yuuki had sacrificed a lot for him. Her life as she had known it. She didn't even have a family name to hold up to anymore. Just a title and a gold medal.

And soon, she would be gone. Forced out of her new life by the creature who had brought her into it. The creature who pursued measures beyond Kohlberg's stages of moral development, one who created his own law within the bounds of government. One who did not consider others until after considering himself. One who manipulated and could not be called human. He had felt himself changing since he met Yuuki. That frightened him, it meant that inheriting the Ootori group would become almost impossible. The one possibility in his life, the one goal, began to fade. At the time he had minded greatly, but there was a point, one snowy Christmas afternoon, that he hadn't.

Kyoya emailed the lawyer back.

-

_I should never think  
What's in your heart  
What's in our home  
So I won't_

You'll learn to hate me  
But still call me baby  
Oh love  
So call me by my name

And save your soul  
Save your soul  
Before your too far gone  
Before nothing can be done

I'll try to decide when  
She'll lie in the end  
I ain't got no fight in me  
In this whole damn world  
So hold off  
She should hold off  
It's the one thing that I've known

Once I put my coat on  
I coming out in this all wrong  
She standing outside holding me  
Saying oh please  
I'm in love  
I'm in love

Girl save your soul  
Go on save your soul  
Before it's to far gone  
And before nothing can be done

Cause without me  
You got it all  
So hold on  
Without me you got it all  
So hold on  
Without me you got it all  
Without me you got it all  
So hold on  
Without me you got it all  
Without me you got it all  
So hold on

_(Never think, Robert Pattinson) _

_------_

_Oh twisty cliffy. I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Review and tell me what you thought. _

_Blessings,_

_-Peterpauper_


	16. Chapter 15

-

**Chapter 15**

-

-

_Graduation_

-

Yuuki pulled her graduation gown on; it was light blue like the boy's uniform and thankfully not the hideous yellow of the girls. Her cap tassel was highly annoying; it kept waving like an idiot in front of her face.

"Stop trying to kill the hat." Kyoya was standing at her doorway, looking perfect as per usual. Girls would kill for that sort of luck, or genetics for that matter.

The girl turned to look at him, swiftly building a barrier between them. "I was arranging. People do that."

"I didn't do that."

"Exactly." She questioned his humanity.

Yuuki walked past him, twisting her body so they wouldn't touch. She was still furious, Kyoya hadn't even apologised. He wasn't sorry, he wished he could have done it another way, but he had got his original prize on the way. He had what he wanted.

Even so, he had planed two outcomes and, quite frankly, prefer the other to what he got. "Yuuki, you can't treat me like this forever." He followed her through to the front door. "We're graduating, can't you truce me for the day?"

"You should have thought of that before stabbing me in the back." She opened the car door and slid inside, closing it in his face.

Kyoya opened it again and got in. She had done that every morning since their argument and would have every afternoon if she hadn't invested in her own driver. "Would you forgive me then?"

Yuuki sighed. "I have Kyoya. I can still be mad at you though. And you actually need to be sorry." She pulled her cap off, frustrated with it.

A few minutes passed. "What are you doing after graduation?" He asked, hoping to ease the tension.

"Going to the formal, like you."

"I didn't mean tonight."

"I know." Yuuki put her elbow on the window ledge and rested her hand in her face.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up and stared straight ahead. He was losing her, fast. He hadn't lost anything in his life. Maybe he had already lost her, he didn't know.

"Yuuki, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not." She replied, no malice in her voice. It was a soft, truthful statement.

"I'm not sorry for what I did. I'm sorry I hurt you."

"People hurt me all the time Kyoya. It's not like you're doing it was anything special, you just took my father's company into liquidation too. Guess that puts you a cut above the rest."

"I didn't liquidate his company."

"Whatever you did, people just don't do that in secret, especially if they are the boyfriend of the daughter." Pause. "Ex-daughter...and they don't ensure that big fat EX in front of the familial title either."

"You said boyfriend as in present."

"It was present at the time of the incident." The car stopped and she opened the door. "I'm sorry Kyoya, I can't be used anymore. I can't be betrayed by the people I love again."

He caught the door as she closed it. "How will you make sure that that doesn't happen?"

"I'll keep my wall's up." She replied, flatly as she pulled her cap back on.

Yuuki pulled the tassel to the side, where it was supposed to sit, but it slid back in her face. Kyoya took it in his fingers, twisted it once and rested the bent fabric over the edge of the cap. It stayed in place.

She hated it when he did that. When he got close to her again. It was like things were what they had been. Like they hadn't been devastated by human pride, greed and a search for merit.

"Thank you." Yuuki said softly.

Kyoya nodded once, pushed his glasses up and began the walk to the field where the ceremony would take place. They were graduating in pieces. Promises had been broken and the future was uncertain. He didn't know that her flight left the next morning.

-

Yuuki received honours for social and political science and came second in English and German, just after the third Ootori. She smiled for the newspaper with him, but it never reached her eyes. Kyoya put his Host act on and laughed, grinned and joked with those around him, pressing for the praise of others, creating foundations of merit for future allies.

Tamaki made a long, valiant speech about honour, friendship and the power of love. The girls listened intently and the boys tried to look dignified beside the fan girls. Yuuki smiled the whole way through the speech, it was very Tamaki. Light, didn't make much sense, but made everyone happy anyway. She would miss that.

"Don't cry because it's over." He concluded. "Smile because it happened."

Yuuki clapped with the others, smiling. It was over. It was all over. Her school life was over; she could finally pursue what she wanted to, what she was good at. The graduation was about to conclude when a familiar face took the stand. It was Kyoya's father.

"I'm sorry to keep you for a moment longer." He wasn't. "I just wanted to take the opportunity to announce the heir to the Ootori group." There was a thick silence, the media was at the event in order to cover one of Japan's most prestigious schools, it was a perfect stage to insert an economic twist.

Mr Ootori continued in his hard voice. "I have been thinking about it a long time. Giving the third son the group was not ideal, seeing as his age would slow the handover. But, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Yuuki turned in her seat, as did the half the congregation. They were alphabetised and 'O' was in the middle. Kyoya was smiling coyly, pleased but trying not to be an egoist about it. Then the cheering started and for the rest of the day, very few could actually get close enough to the heir in order to pass on their congratulations.

-

Yuuki soon found herself in the third music room with the host club. Haruhi, Hikaru and Kouru were in uniform and everyone else was in causal, graduation gowns put away.

"Well, that's it." Haruhi stared at her feet with a soft smile. "What happens to us now?"

"The host club will continue! We cannot forsake our princesses while there are still hosts in the school. Duties shall be carried out until you graduate as well." Tamaki stood and stared out the window, victorious with his short burst.

"Yes." Kyoya's calculating voice broke into the conversation. "We will continue for one more year."

"Just to make some more profit? Get some more practice?" Yuuki said, she was sitting on the window sill, staring at the empty stand below. It seemed eerie, those who had walked across it would never walk as school students again. They were gone. Vanished from rolls, lists, detention halls...all that was left were marks in textbooks and engravings in desks. Ghosts of the past.

Kyoya didn't reply to her statement, he just stared at the girl as she lifted one of her legs in order to rest her elbow on it. The other hung over the edge of the sill and touched the floor with its tip. She didn't turn to him. Haruhi knew that with the other students, she would vanish to.

Hunny climbed up Tamaki. "One more year of Host club? What a good idea!" He smiled widely. "We can entertain the cute ladies for a little bit longer."

Tamaki laughed. "Yes, yes we can."

Yuuki ran her hand around the back of her neck. The necklace hidden below her shirt got caught in her nail and lifted out, into the open. She fingered it, staring at it without letting the emotion she was feeling play to her face.

Kyoya hated that. He hated not being able to know what she was thinking. He hated that he had handed her the brick and mortar to build up her walls thicker and higher than they ever had been. He had just won the world, but lost the treasures within it.

-

_The formal_

_-_

Yuuki went on her own. She spent the afternoon in a hairdresser's salon with a make-up artist buzzing around her. This was her final goodbye and she would do it right. She didn't head back to the Ootori estate to dress; instead she went back to the school and locked herself in the third music room for the last time.

Her dress for the evening was white with deep silver trimming. Strapless, ethereal, sophisticated. The girl's dark hair and eyes contrasted dramatically against the fabric and her skin. Both were decorated lightly with soft whites and silvers with a touch of midnight blue. Yuuki heard the music start below as people started arriving. The orchestra had started. She slid her shoes on and clipped a bracelet in place. The gold necklace somehow fit with everything she wore, even if it was the opposite colour to everything else.

The door opened and a figure slipped inside. It was Haruhi, dressed in a tux. "I thought I would find you here." She smiled.

Yuuki smiled back. "I thought I would say goodbye to this place first."

"You don't have to go. You know everyone here loves you. We're your family."

"I know." She tapped her nails on the windowsill. "I know..."

"Don't leave Yuuki."

"You'll see me again."

"On television."

"I'll come back."

"Really?"

Yuuki ignored the other girl's tone. "Let's go to the party."

Haruhi nodded and opened the door, being a gentleman and letting Yuuki out first.

The party was grand. Lots of colours, lots of girls dressed to perfection, lots of boys noticing the fact.

Yuuki placed herself amongst her friends from class, laughing as they re-told stories of high-school antics and being nostalgic over its end.

"It's not over yet." A familiar voice called from behind her.

Yuuki didn't need to look to know it was Tamaki. The girl standing across from her almost fainted. Turning, she noticed he was extending a hand to her.

"Dance with me, one last time." He offered.

The girl took his hand. "Sure." She smiled, liking Tamaki. She would miss him.

He waltzed her around the room, smiling and bestowing his affection upon her, it was as if he knew this was really the last dance.

"Yuuki?" The blonde asked, spinning her under his arm.

"Yes?"

"How do you know someone loves you?" He stared across the room at Haruhi.

"I wouldn't know." She replied. "I could guess, but I don't think I've ever experienced true love, just a play of it."

"That's a little harsh."

Yuuki paused. "What do you think it is, how do you know someone loves you?"

"How do you really know he loves you? When you scream and he's calm. When you hit him and he kisses you. When you cry and he cries to. When you tell him you hate him and he tells you he loves you."

"Sounds like you knew the answer all along." She raised an eyebrow at him.

Tamaki smiled coyly. "He might have finally got what he wanted; he finally has a good thing, what he always strove for. But he's still hunting for more, looking for something better. Yet...I'm sure there is something he wants back."

"You can't change the past Tamaki. There is no refund policy on life."

"How about exchange?" Tamaki spun her under his arm again but let go.

Yuuki lost her bearings for a minute, seeing the orchestra one second and then parts of the room she hadn't noticed the next. A hand filled hers as her partner took her back.

"Don't do that." She hissed lightly. "I'm navigationally challenged."

"And you can't drive." The voice was different.

Yuuki saw Tamaki offering another girl a dance as her new partner circled her. She stopped dancing, knowing what had happened. Host club antics. Kyoya kept her hand firmly in his, lifted in waltz position, his other arm around her waist.

"What?" He looked at her.

Yuuki didn't want this; she didn't want him close like that. He smelled the same. He was the same. She used the hand not in his to unwrap Kyoya's arm and then stepped away, ducking her head as she said a soft apology and retreated. Tears stinging at her eyes. The girl couldn't handle that sort of confusion, she still loved him – she had kept the necklace, but she was too far gone.

Yuuki found the balcony and remembered it covered in snow and ice. She remembered slipping on it and getting kissed for the first time. Her dance partner had followed her directly this time.

"Yuuki, what's wrong?" He could never stand not knowing.

"I think you know perfectly well." She replied, not wanting to be hard but knowing she would never fully escape him if she wasn't.

"Yuuki..."

"Don't." The girl face him, her voice climbing, trying not to yell but not knowing what else to do. "Please, Kyoya, I don't need you to make this harder than it is. So just..." She put a finger to her temple before clenching it into her fist. "Stop it."

He stood, calm. Kyoya stepped closer to Yuuki and extended his hand to hers. She slapped it away. As she did, he turned and caught her fingers, catching her force but captivating her hand. He lifted it to his mouth and kissed it softly.

"Don't..." Yuuki's voice broke as she pulled her hand away. She didn't even think about her mascara as a few tears slipped out. "Kyoya...please..."

The girl couldn't tell, but she thought she caught the glimmer of the moon on a wet diamond, falling down his face.

Yuuki had to separate herself from him. The girl had bound herself to Kyoya and knew it would hurt them both to be severed apart.

"Why?" He asked calmly.

"I can't do this Kyoya." She said back.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I hate what I did to you."

"Well I hate you for doing it. I hate what you are, Kyoya." Yuuki tore herself apart; it was the blackest blasphemy to say she hated the man she loved.

Kyoya closed his eyes in the dark. "I don't hate you. Quite the opposite. Yuuki, I never expected to fall in love with you, but I did."

He had taken his walls down again. Ripped himself open to her in a way that couldn't be an act. The part of their relationship that couldn't have been manipulated for capitalist merit. Yuuki put another layer of bricks around her heart and raised her hand over her mouth. She was shaking.

Kyoya took his jacket off and put it on her shoulders before she could object. "I'm scared. I don't want anyone else to kiss you. I don't want anyone else to hold you. I don't want you to love anyone else. I'm scared because, I don't want anyone to take my place."

"Kyoya, don't." She pleaded. Stop tying yourself back to me. Stop knitting it together. This moment would hurt and scar her forever. "Don't! Leave me alone!"

Yuuki pulled his jacket off and let it melt to the ground and fall into a puddle of unforgotten memories as she tore herself away. She pushed him from her, pausing with her hand on the centre of his chest, memorising the beat under his skin for the last time. Remembering his smell and his taste as she did so.

Suddenly, she ripped her hand away as if it burned before turning and disappearing swiftly into the night. Leaving traces of silver and white in her wake. She had to leave.

Now.

-

Yuuki stood at the entrance to Ouran High School, barefoot with her shoes in her one hand, her phone in the other, fighting to breath evenly. This was not how she had planned her goodbyes. She didn't even get to say goodbye to Hunny, Mori and the twins. She didn't know if they would understand. But she had to leave. She couldn't stay a moment longer. It hurt her too much. A set of headlights illuminated her dress and she hurried to the side of the car, slamming the door as she slid in behind the driver.

"The Ootori estate, please." She held a bill to the cab driver, which he took and put in his pocket before beginning to drive.

The girl was jittering in the back seat.

"Everything okay, miss?" The driver asked, his accent lilting.

"Yes, everything's fine. Thank you." Yuuki smiled at him, it was forced.

"You're leaving an awful high toned and fancy to do party there."

"It's nothing I haven't done before." Pause. "How much weight will this pull?"

"The car, miss?"

"Yes."

"It's just a regular taxi."

"Would it pull a float?"

"Like in 'em parades?"

Yuuki smiled. "No, like a horse float."

"Oh, one of them. Yeah, probably."

The girl drummed her fingers on the window, fighting back another torrent of tears. She couldn't stand it. She needed to escape. Yuuki was sick of being hurt and grounded. Broken. The girl pulled open her phone.

When the receiver picked up she began speaking, missing hello. "Can you take off tonight?"

"_Tonight?"_

"Yes, tonight."

"_I'm at the airport now at the pilots quarters. I can probably get clearance for you."_

"Please try, call me back." Yuuki hung up. She had flown with the pilot before, sat in the cockpit and chatted. He would leave early if something was wrong.

The driver pulled into the estate. "You flying out somewhere?"

"England."

"That's awful far away. I was born in England you know?"

"Yeah." Yuuki opened the door and got out. "I might be a while."

"That's no problem miss. I'll wait."

The girl rushed up the steps and into the empty house. The family was at the formal. Yuuki pulled her hair down and changed her clothes. Her bag was already packed for the morning, hidden in her closet under a pile of sheets. She felt like a child, running away. Yuuki pulled her luggage to the car and the driver got out to load it.

"I got it miss." He said in English.

"Thanks." She replied in the same. He was helping her transition.

Yuuki ran down the side of the house and grabbed the keys to the quad bike. It had enough power to pull the empty float to the car and it did in record time, having been already hooked up to go. Zero's things were in the float, packed into various holders that would keep them contained in flight.

The driver told her he could attack the trailer and Yuuki took off again to the stable. Zero was standing in his stall, alert. His master was crying again.

"Hey boy. Shhhh, shhh, quiet down." He was stomping on the floor, throwing his head at her unease.

"I'm fine boy. I'll be okay." She was desperately trying to keep her mind off what she was doing.

Yuuki sniffed and pulled the halter over Zero's head before pulling herself onto his back. She rode out, not bothering to close the door or turn off the light. The girl found comfort in the drumming of hooves on the grass; it was as if her horse were communicating a secret message with the earth.

The driver was waiting, the float ramp down, when Yuuki dismounted.

"You've done this before?" She asked, leading the horse inside.

"Yes, miss. Once worked for a stud farm in England."

Yuuki didn't ask more about it, she didn't want conversation. "Could you please wait a minute while I finish something?"

The man nodded and touched his hat before disappearing back into the car.

Yuuki took her time this round in climbing the stairs to the front door. She pulled it open and felt a part of her tear away at the familiar feeling. She walked to her room and pulled open her bedside table, taking out a small, navy box. Inside was a message, it said:

_Kyoya, _

_I think the scary part was, you understood me when no one had, even if you never wanted it. You loved me, and I loved you. _

_Don't forget me. _

_Don't be scared. _

_You have your dreams._

_Everything we've done, and everything we've been through, can never be explained in words. _

_Yuuki._

The girl watched as a tear fell from her cheek and onto the paper; it seeped through and stuck to the gold beneath it. Her gold. He owned her horse; she repaid him with its winnings. Yuuki cracked somewhere inside, a deep gash forming right though her. It screamed at its raw edges and roared as it burned her. It was the pain she had been trying to escape, only intensified as she did the act. Yuuki remained calm as she put the box on the white covers of her bed.

He could come there first, Haruhi would realise what was happening when she didn't come back inside. She probably already had. Tamaki would find out and then Kyoya.

Kyoya.

Yuuki put a hand to her mouth as a small cry escaped. She loved him. She wanted to be with him forever. But he had used her, he had abandoned her trust. He had broken her, like one would break an animal. He used her like a toy and she didn't know what would have happened when he had completed his task. What would have happened with her?

Yuuki kissed her fingers and sealed them on the lid of the box before closing her door. She closed her heart with it, seared it shut. It was excruciating, but to her, it was necessary.

She left her keys on the side table by the front door and left.

-

Haruhi realised what was happening. She told Tamaki, worried, not caring about breaking her promise. Tamaki's eyes widened and he rushed off, dragging Kyoya by the arm into the night.

"What are you doing?" The Ootori complained. He didn't like being thrown off.

"Yuuki's gone."  
"I know." The words stung.

Tamaki turned and slapped his friend. "No, she's really gone."

Kyoya didn't understand.

"You idiot!" The blonde yelled as he pushed the other into his car and ran around to the other side. "She's going to England."

Kyoya's face reflected shock. He hadn't considered that, he hadn't wanted to. "Now? She'd have so much to do before she left."

"That's why she did it yesterday." Tamaki said over the roar of the accelerator.

"Yesterday?"

"Yuuki told Haruhi her plans; she was packed and ready to leave while you slept off the party."

"Why now?" Kyoya sounded desperate.

"You tell me." Tamaki was furious. He felt as his friend had the day he had tried to run away.

Kyoya remembered the scene earlier that night and realised he had hurt her more than he should have as he tried to get her back. The Porsche roared toward the Ootori estate, the drive was empty.

Kyoya threw himself out of the car and into his house. He burst into Yuuki's empty room and stared at it for a second desperately before reaching for the box. Upon reading the note he scrambled back to the front door, the medal still clutched in his palm. His heart raced as adrenaline pumped through his body. What had he done?

All the Ootori had to do was slam the car door. Tamaki swore and spun the car around and raced toward the airport. After half an hour, the road widened, opening into the highway that lead to the terminals.

Kyoya hated himself inside. He had driven her away. He was losing the one thing he would have worked his life for to achieve. The thing that had just given itself to him, not expecting anything in return. He had thrown that away for greed. For earthly merit.

"Drive faster Tamaki." He hissed.

The blonde responded by flooring it, rending the air with the noise of acceleration. Tamaki's jaw was clenched. It wasn't like Kyoya was the only one loosing something, they all were.

-

Yuuki climbed out of the car and paid the driver. He carried her bags onto the tarmac and nodded his goodbye. A team of couriers rushed to assist the Cunxin, the Olympian. They had travelled with her before and knew her routine which is why she had specifically asked for them.

Her bags were in the plane as the engines roared to life. Zero was unloaded and put in a traveller box and the trailer was lifted into storage deep within the plane's belly. The horse was put in front of the passenger seating, in its usual place when flying. Yuuki signed the paperwork and showed her passport to the official who had come to her in the flurry of activity.

"Thank you miss, have a safe flight." He had said as he left the tarmac for the comfort of the terminal building.

Yuuki watched him go, she had to wait before getting onboard, she had to be told when things were secure and she could check her horse herself. The terminal spilled light, illuminating how bare it was during that time of the evening. The girl got called by the pilot out of her thoughts. She greeted him warmly and followed him into the plane before running her personal checklist on Zero's security. For precaution, she put mufflers on his ears. He was already anxious because of how fast things had happened. He didn't understand.

"Sshh pretty thing. It's all good. We're going home hey bud?" He cooed at him, trying to calm herself. She needed things to happen as fast as they were, she needed to get out.

"Oi, Yuuki." The pilot stuck his head out the cockpit. "There's a car on the tar. Pretty funny. Might make you smile. Whoever it is has turned the abandoned strip into a 90210 episode or whatever it is Americans do."

"What?"

"You heard me."

The girl stared out the window as a silver Porsche raced past security and onto the runway. It was on the wrong stretch of tarmac. Yuuki stared at the couriers as they took their seats, steadying themselves as the engines of the plane roared to life. She shed one more private tear and let her fingers run along the cold glass window before taking her own seat. Strapping herself in as the plane taxied away.

Yuuki stared at the car as it raced down the runway parallel to hers. She couldn't see through the windows. But they could see into hers.

"There." Kyoya cried. "In the window." He gripped the navy box harder; he couldn't let it be his last link to her.

He clambered to the backseat to be on the same side of the car that the plane was on. Pulling his phone out, he dialled her. All there was, was a disabled tone, her phone was off. She was watching them, her fingers pressed to the glass. Her face written with grief. It was like she had lost a loved one, like someone had died.

Kyoya wound down the window and watched Yuuki's face change as she saw his head appear in the night. "YUUKI!" The wind whipped at him and carried his voice away. "YUUKI! DONT! I'M SORRY!" He opened himself to her, hoping it wasn't the last time.

She could tell he was yelling at her, pulling himself apart for her. It hurt to know he wanted her back that much. It hurt enough for her to question her motives, to want to stay. But only for a second, the emotion faded away. She didn't know he was sorry. That might have turned the tables.

Kyoya stared in horror as the wheels of the plane lifted off the ground, first just a few centimetres and then a meter.

Two...

Three...

Four...

Tamaki slowed the car and pulled it to a stop as the airplane engine roared, lifting the metal bird into the sky. Angry, he punched the steering wheel. The car screamed in defence, doing what its driver and passenger could not do anymore. Kyoya leaned out the window and watched the plane disappear. The box dropped on the seat beside him with a soft thunk. He mourned. He had tried to play God and lost. He had failed for the first time in his life and in an area he had wanted to succeed. An area he hadn't seen as a place he wanted to be until it was too late. A place he needed to be. His insides hurt.

"You're an idiot!" Tamaki yelled.

Kyoya didn't reply. He knew it was true. He crumpled on the backseat. He had won what he had spent his whole life to that point reaching for that morning and lost what would have been the rest of his life in the evening. The man discovered that he wanted to latter and would sacrifice the former. But that choice had been made for him. He had dug that hole. And closed it on top of himself.

The plane disappeared into the night. The girl inside was beginning to hate the new life she was staring as much as the one she was fleeing, hating it as she began to realise the pain it caused by ripping her from what she had come to love. It would never heal. It would always hurt.

Throb. Ache. Bruise. Tear. Rip. Burn.

She disappeared into the night, crying against her window as the horse that belonged to her old life watched. While the couriers that had travelled the world watched. While none of them understood.

_-_

_One day. _

_-_

_Two. _

_-_

_One week. _

_-_

_Two. _

_-_

_One month. _

_-_

_Two. _

_-_

_One half year. _

_-_

_Two. _

_-_

"_Even more, I had never meant to love him. One thing I truly knew - knew it in the pit of my stomach, in the center of my bones, knew it from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, knew it deep in my empty chest - was how love gave someone the power to break you.__ I'd been broken beyond repair…__I was like a lost moon - my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation - that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind, ignoring the laws of gravity." _

"_Before you…my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars--points of light and reason...And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything." _

_(Stephanie Meyer, Twilight Saga)_

_-_

_---------------_

_On that happy note._

_Please tell me what you thought. _

_Blessings, _

_-peterpauper_


	17. Epilogue

-

**Epilogue**

-

The first few months Yuuki spent in London, she hardly slept. She lay awake, exhausted, unable to drift off. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was Kyoya leaning out of the car, screaming at her. His face...

The girl would pick up her phone, every morning for six months and play the same message, over and over. She cried for a day when it expired from her memory card. Yuuki wanted more than anything to hear his voice.

"_Yuuki." Pause. "I know you don't want to hear from me right now...or at all. But, I needed to tell you that, I came that night. Tamaki and I, we came for you. I couldn't let you go. I...um" silence. "...it didn't take me long to uh..." Pause "I'm sorry..." Long pause, unsteady breathing. "Yuuki. Just...stay safe." Click. _

When Yuuki had left Japan, she had pulled her heart out, strings and all, and thrown it on the tarmac like the dejected puppet it was. And now, there was a hole, a gaping, burning, aching hole. One that she couldn't stitch up. One she lived with like a burden. The thing that scared the girl the most though was how she was forgetting. She couldn't remember what Kyoya's voice sounded like, exactly what colour his eyes were, the shape of his face...it was fading. Yuuki had left so that it would fade, but now that it was happening, she found it was like a nightmare in waking.

So, she threw herself at her riding. Every day she would ride, without complaint, without break. Yuuki pushed herself, trying to get her mind of the pain. But it never left. Every time it snowed, she felt a longing, every time her mobile rang her heart would falter, every time she saw a silver car – she had to look away.

Six months after leaving, Yuuki had her application for visa denied. She was no longer a British citizen thanks to the divorce and would never compete for her birth nation as her mother had. She hated Kyoya for that. She hated how she wanted to remember what he smelled like. She hated how he always claimed he was an egoist when he wasn't. She hated it how...he never came after her. Kyoya never came hunting, which proved how he had used her. Cast her aside, expired. He had wanted one thing, got two and lived with it when his second prize fled.

Even so, Yuuki could never prove that, not when she had seen him trying to reach her from the side of a car. Telling her not to leave. But she had. She had betrayed him as much as he had her.

She was disappearing. Vanishing in her search, her struggle to cling to Kyoya. To grasp what she had left. The girl couldn't go back, she couldn't move forward. For a year she struggled in stagnant water, wanting to just stop swimming but never having the guts to do even that.

-

_Empty spaces fill me up with holes  
Distant faces with no place left to go  
Without you, within me I can find no rest  
Where I'm going is anybody's guess_

I tried to go on like I never knew you  
I'm awake but my world is half asleep  
I pray for this heart to be unbroken  
But without you all I'm going to be is, incomplete

Voices tell me I should carry on  
But I am swimming in an ocean all alone  
Baby, my baby  
It's written on your face  
You still wonder if we made a big mistake  


_I tried to go on like I never knew you  
I'm awake but my world is half asleep  
I pray for this heart to be unbroken  
But without you all I'm going to be is, incomplete_

I don't mean to drag it on  
But I can't seem to let you go  
I don't wanna make you face this world alone  
I won't let you go..........

I try to go on like I never knew you  
I'm awake but my world is half asleep  
I pray for this heart to be unbroken  
But without you what I'm going to be is, incomplete...

Incomplete....

_(Incomplete, Backstreet Boys)_

_-_

Kyoya never went after her. It was his purgatory. His suffering for making her suffer. His penance for killing her spirit, crushing her as he had. A final blow to having part of himself ripped out cruelly and never having it replaced again.

He took up being the heir of the Ootori group as one would pick up the threads of an old life. It was a constant reminder of how he had created shards from something magnificent. Destroyed something otherwise perfect. In his push to get his father's pride, to become more than second rate – he had pushed away the only real treasure he would find.

It scared him. Kyoya would never be able to fully move on. Not after what had happened. He spent days after Yuuki's departure in silence, every evening returning home and holding the navy box in his hands. Reading the note. It was all he had left of her. It was all he deserved of her.

Kyoya didn't deserve the Ootori group, he wanted it yes. He still did everything for merit, yes. But...the part of him that said that doing those things was alright had been removed, replaced with a duplicate that did the job but not with passion. He was passionate about the thing he could never hold again.

He couldn't remember the shape of her eyes, the texture of her hair, the way she smelled. He couldn't remember how she looked after she had ridden, how early she got up, how she clicked her pen.

Kyoya had gone numb. Cut off. Scarred. Unfeeling. He removed himself and became cold and hard. His walls climbed higher than before and he froze those around him. Only those in the Host club ever saw him out of his private world. Only those he let close.

He had screwed up. And he loathed himself for it.

_-_

_Time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend  
To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind  
there's no comfort in the truth  
pain is all you'll find_

Should've known better

I feel so unsure  
as I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor  
as the music dies, something in your eyes  
calls to mind the silver screen  
and all its sad good-byes

I'm never gonna dance again  
guilty feet have got no rhythm  
though it's easy to pretend  
I know you're not a fool

Should've known better than to cheat a friend  
and waste the chance that I've been given  
so I'm never gonna dance again  
the way I danced with you

Time can never mend  
the careless whispers of a good friend  
to the heart and mind  
ignorance is kind  
there's no comfort in the truth  
pain is all you'll find

I'm never gonna dance again  
guilty feet have got no rhythm  
though it's easy to pretend  
I know you're not a fool

Should've known better than to cheat a friend  
and waste this chance that I've been given  
so I'm never gonna dance again  
the way I danced with you

Never without your love

Tonight the music seems so loud  
I wish that we could lose this crowd  
Maybe it's better this way  
We'd hurt each other with the things we'd want to say

We could have been so good together  
We could have lived this dance forever  
But noone's gonna dance with me  
Please stay

And I'm never gonna dance again  
guilty feet have got no rhythm  
though it's easy to pretend  
I know you're not a fool

Should've known better than to cheat a friend  
and waste the chance that I've been given  
so I'm never gonna dance again  
the way I danced with you

(Now that you're gone) Now that you're gone  
(Now that you're gone) What I did's so wrong  
that you had to leave me alone

_(Careless whisper, George Michael)_

_-_

Even so, burns can be healed. Tissue can be sewn back together. Scars faded. Even if memory of an incident remains.

They were like Romeo and Juliet. They had the world. They had each other. Life. Love. Passion. Undying. Until Romeo decided to turn Juliet's life upside down by slaying one who she loved. He had hurt her, and she had loved him still. They were ripped apart by his acts. Lived apart in suffering, incomplete without the other, scared of what would happen should they meet again. Would the world stop? Or cease to exist? Would things change? Could the past be changed? Yuuki had not severed their bonds, just cut in it such a way as to push them apart every time they tried to be together. Tugged the in the wrong directions and pained them.

The only real difference was that...Romeo and Juliet died together.

Yuuki and Kyoya had died apart.

-

_How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back? There are something's that time cannot mend some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold ... You cannot always be torn in two ... Your part in the story will go on._

_(Lord of the Ring's: The Return of the King, J.R.R Tolkien)_

------------------------------

_Your reviews and opinions are very much appreciated. _

_Stay tuned for the sequel, "Roses of Jericho"_


	18. Author's Note

**Grammar**

So I was going through this story again and just want to apologise to all my readers for the awful grammar, spelling, and punctiation. I did write it a long time ago and have since gained a much better understanding of how the English language should be used. I am so grateful to all the readers and reviewers who gave me the constructive criticism I needed in order to improve my writing not only for myself but for future endevours.  
My original intention behind leaving the story as it is was so that I could look back and see what I have come from in order to better visualise where I am going. However, in updating the site has included a way in which to correct and edit already existing chapters without removing them entierly. If anyone wishes me to re-write the story in order to correct it then please feel free to PM me or contact me on my tumblr ( .com)  
Thank you once again to everyone for your amazing support with this fic. And thank you to the creators of Ouran for the amazing characters that inspired this story.

Blessings,  
P.


	19. Removal

**Removal  
**

* * *

In only a few hours I have been reminded of just how many people enjoyed this story.  
If there had been only one of you then that would have been enough for me. If I had made only one of you smile reading this then that would have been enough. But there is more than one and while that astounds me it also makes me hugely grateful. The support you all provide is astonishing and I apologise profusely for letting one bad moment make me forget that.

The stories will be staying. Not only because you want them to, but because I do as well. They are part of my journey and a good indicator of where I started and of how far I've come. I'm not the best writer, but I enjoy doing it and I want to improve. I am different now, but that doesn't mean I should forget my younger self.

There is so much more that I could say here but I dont want to sound like an old dog howling so, just know that I love you all and than I am thankful for all of you. Know that I adore your constructive criticism and appreciate how brave you must be to come forward like that without sounding vicious. Thank you for all staying by my side through it all, and for putting up with my shortcomings and helping me overcome them.

You are all one of a kind.

P.


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